1002 Years : An Originals Anthology
by Chuckaboo
Summary: Present day: Rebekah, Elijah and Niklaus are lured back into the city of New Orleans by a woman who claims to be their sister. With these new family ties they are forced to face a past that still threatens their own survival. Past: Kol befriends a witch that eventually learns the biggest secret about the Originals yet. A fatal secret that not even siblings themselves knew.
1. The Village and the Pendulum

**_Introduction_**

 ** _As a fan of the Originals in TVD seasons 2 and 3, I was a pretty disappointed on how the series The Originals turned out. With this fic I tried to create a story of how I imagined it could be. I wanted to lay a bigger stress on the past and the relationship between the siblings and a smaller one on New Orleans (and no vampire babies, like, what even). The past storyline will feature several stories from different times and thus has a bit of an Anthology feeling to it, usually with one POV (the first one will be Kol, second one Elijah)._**

 ** _When I started writing it, I thought this whole Present/Past split was brilliant but I understand if it gets a bit convoluted to read both at the same time. So in case you feel like you wanna focus on one part first, I'd suggest to read the Past first, because the Present Day is building up on that later._**

 ** _Also, this is not a continuation from either of the shows (i.e. they never went to Mystic Falls), it's more of an AU where I picked up some elements of the show that I liked. For instance I read about Freya somewhere, and thought having a second sister was pretty cool. I stopped watching TO a while ago so I don't know what happened since - If I write anything along the lines of the actual show I wouldn't know and I'm sorry if that turns out to be super boring to read!_**

 ** _As said above I'm mostly interested in the relationship between the siblings, so there won't be much in the shipping department except some small stuff. That will probably change later in the story when I established some new characters._**

 ** _I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think and what parts you like in the comments!_**

* * *

 _ **Present Day, New Orleans**_

There she was, in the old town house in New Orleans, looking down onto the street from the first floor. This room used to be a study room, almost like a library, that was mostly occupied by Elijah, but Marcel must have changed most of the interior. The new furniture looked a bit more disassembled and cheaper than the old one, but Rebekah couldn't say that she had liked the old furniture better. She felt a colder shiver down her spine. She hadn't been back in New Orleans since 1925 and she had a reason for that. A part of her always thought she could forget the pains of those days, but now that she was back she knew that wasn't the case.

"Why exactly did you have to lure _me_ of all people back here?" she asked, which was rather a question to herself than anyone else. Why did she even agree to come back?

"Because you were easier to persuade than your brothers," Marcel replied with a convincing smile.

Stupid Marcel. He almost made her forget why she didn't like this place.

"Are you saying I'm gullible?"

"No, of course not," Marcel said swayingly. "It just shows that you're the most reasonable person in your family."

Rebekah laughed. "Nice retrieval."

The door swung open and a young dark haired woman rushed in. When she saw Rebekah she made an abrupt halt.

"Oh, you're already here," she said.

"This is Davina," Marcel added.

Before he could add something, Rebekah said with a smile: "Yes, you wrote about her in the letter."

It was only two days ago that Rebekah received Marcel's letter. Then she was still back in New York, together with her brothers Elijah and Niklaus. Although, _together_ might have been the wrong word. Elijah had been seeing this philosophy student for the last few months who, although an intelligent woman, kept ranting about the demons inside every human being. Rebekah kept pushing him to leave her alone, because god knows he couldn't tell her they were vampires, but he didn't listen. Then she got into a fight with Nik, when he said she didn't have any right to meddle with everyone's private life, making her dispute with Elijah about himself, as he usually did. Marcel's letter was a welcome escape, and she left without even telling her brothers goodbye. Only when she was out of the door, she realised how long it had been since the last time she was in New Orleans. And even now she wasn't sure if she was ready for it.

"Let's get right to it then, shall we?" Davina said rather casually and began to unpack her bag on the table in the room.

As Davina pulled out a map and a wooden box from her bag, Rebekah looked at Marcel questioningly.

"The reason why I asked you to come, " Marcel begun with a much more serious tone now, "is because we, that is Davina, found something very odd. She has been trying out different kinds of location spells for finding vampires in New Orleans, but they always come out wrong. They mark spots where we know aren't any vampires."

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "You brought me here because your little friend can't do a proper location spell?"

She looked at Davina. She couldn't be much older than 16.

"First of all, I know how to do location spells," Davina looked affronted, "and besides, that's not the only-"

"Let me tell her, " Marcel interrupted, resting his hand on Davina's shoulder, which somehow calmed her down.

"Yes, the location spells are in order. Trust me, we checked. The marks always show up in the same place, in the middle of a witch coven. And these witches aren't vampires, we're sure of it. And that's not the only thing. When we couldn't find the source of the problem, we began to experiment with different things. Turns out the spot marks not only a vampire, but an original."

"That's not possible." Rebekah shook her head.

Davina sighed and unrolled the map onto the table they were standing next to. Then she opened the wooden box and took out a copper pendulum. Rebekah moved next to her and looked at the map of New Orleans. Of course she knew that the city had grown since she left in the 1920s, but now that she saw it on the map it looked practically gigantic.

"So far I've been using the dust of this house to get the original scent, but if you want me to do it _properly_ I could use your blood?" Davina remarked.

"Sure," Rebekah replied and offered her hand. She started to like Davina.

After Davina pinched her with a needle and moved the drop onto the pendulum she began to chant. Rebekah had heard an enormous amount of witch chants in her life, but she never bothered to remember them. Why even try if she couldn't have that kind of power as a vampire? They all sounded the same to her anyway. Soon her blood from the pendulum dropped onto the map. Quickly it began to move towards the townhouse, towards her direction. All seemed as expected, until the drop slowly divided into two. While the bigger drop kept moving towards her, another one moved away from it and eventually stopped close to the harbour.

"This can't be," Rebekah added in disbelief.

"Are you sure? I mean, are you absolutely sure than neither of your brothers is here or was here, somehow confiding with witches?" Marcel asked.

Rebekah thought for a moment. She had been together with Niklaus and Elijah in New York for a while now. There would have been absolutely no possibility for them to quickly going to New Orleans and back without her noticing it. Finn and Kol were dead. There was no one else.

"I'm sure. That just doesn't make sense."

"All I can say is that there is someone in New Orleans with Mikaelson blood running around. The pendulum doesn't lie," Davina concluded.

* * *

 _ **1705, Ysbyty Ifan, Northern Wales**_

The dirt lept up to Kol's boots. They had been standing on the muddy path for a while now. Let's wait here for a while and watch the village, his brothers said, so we don't attract attention. He already regretted not staying in London with Rebekah. She was smart. She said there was no way she'd travel all the way up here just to search through this tiny, practically medieval village. She must have a blast right now. Probably invited some people over, and now they were drinking and dancing in the comfort of a warm and dry home. Not that a vampire could feel the cold, but there were definitely nicer places to be than a muddy road while the wind and rain slapped your face, even for a vampire.

"You're not watching the village," Elijah said to him.

"You observed that right. You two are doing a great job of that already."

Elijah turned his eyes but before he could counter, Kol added: "It's not like there is anything suspicious we can hear. None of these people are witches."

"He's right," Niklaus added, who kept his eyes on the village, "the witch is not here."

They had been observing the village for a while now and listened. With roughly half a mile of distance they could hear the people in their village homes talk to each other. There were maybe 50 of them, women, men, some old people and children, going through their daily routine on this spring evening. The brothers had been hoping the witch would give herself away with some witchy talk, chanting, anything, but nothing seemed suspicious. The main problem was though that these villagers spoke Welsh, and Kol and his brothers weren't exactly proficient in the language.

"Let's not make hasty decisions here. Just because we don't hear her talk, doesn't mean she's not here. The pendulum said she's here, and the pendulum is usually right, especially with that kind of power involved," Elijah said.

Oh that witch, Kol really did not care about her. They had been looking for _that_ witch for a long time. Ever since that other witch told Niklaus that the most powerful witch she had ever heard of lived in Northern Wales and had so for the last 50 years. Ever since then Nik had the great idea to find that witch in order to win her for the team, aka the team of super specimen that are better than humans, aka him and his siblings, so that he has a witch on his side to do his biddings. Having a witch on their side, permanently, would be helpful, Kol had to admit. But every witch they encountered so far wasn't that helpful in the long run, because either they weren't that powerful after all and died, or were just not willing to help. Kol couldn't really say he was surprised by this. It wasn't that Nik was terrible at making friends, he could be surprisingly nice when he wanted, but it was hard to find someone useful that was as crazy as the demands he had. Nik's main goal still seemed to be a way to find the vampire doppelgänger just so that he can kill her. Priorities, Kol sighed.

"Let's wait till it's dark and then scout the village," Nik decided.

When the sundown began to settle in they moved towards the village.

"Have you thought about how you're going to do it, Nik? Convince the woman to come with us?" Kol asked. "Are you going to charm your way into the heart of that middle aged lady? Now that I think of it that's actually not the worst idea."

He was pretty sure he saw a slight smirk on Nik's face.

"Maybe she doesn't need much convincing. She must be bored, living here in this sad little village, having all these powers for nothing. She'll probably come with us before we can even ask her."

Let's hope she's crazy then, Kol thought.

Eventually they reached the village and moved between the narrow paths between the houses. Nobody was outside anymore, the rain and the wind kept the villagers safe in their houses. Kol, Nik and Elijah walked along the houses and listened. Now it was much easier to tell the voices apart, as they headed from house to house. But it was still the same, just humans doing human things, talking and eating. Occasionally they stopped when they passed a woman that roughly fit the age and profile of the witch, but it was no use. None of them gave themselves away for being in any way magical.

After Nik made them go through all the houses twice they eventually gave up. The witch in this town apparently didn't do many witchy things at night. They decided to come back the next day. Maybe it was easier to find her during the day.

The weather didn't improve much overnight. As the morning broke some weak streaks of sunlight touched the meadows around the village, but it was still cold and windy. Kol thought about London. What was wrong with him when he agreed to come along? If he had known that all they were going to do was staring at a village and then making sure that these 50 people living in that village are really, one hundred percent, not witches, he would have stayed at home for sure. His mood didn't improve either, when Nik suggested they should start talking to people, and if they weren't helpful compel them to find the witch. Elijah pointed out that they couldn't compel them because the people didn't understand English, so there was really only the talking option. Then Nik got angry, but since he didn't want to let go of his idea, he decided that only the talking it is. Kol decided not to weigh in on this discussion, because he knew he would be talking at a wall. That seemed like a ridiculous amount of effort now that they pretty much knew that the witch wasn't there. He was just hoping the day would be over soon.

However, the first meeting with the villagers went surprisingly well. They seemed interested and friendly enough towards strangers. Kol had the impression they thought he and his brothers were only passing through, although he wondered where they were supposed to go to, since this place already seemed the end of the world.

Nik was on his mission, and Elijah nice enough of a brother to help, so Kol decided that he wasn't needed anymore in this task. If the witch was here they could surely find her without his help. Slowly he moved away from the crowd and began wandering around the houses. In daylight, and when one ignored the occasional rain drops, they almost looked homely. He walked towards the edge of the village where the muddy path led towards the mountains. Someone on their way here told him that this path was part of a pilgrimage route that led over a pass to the other side of the valley, and Kol wondered why anyone would want to walk over that mountain.

Suddenly he spotted a small cottage further down the path, but still rather close to the village. From his experience, witches, although often included in a community, preferred to live on the brink, both mentally and locally. Sometimes helpful but still on their own. The location of the house would be ideal. He felt the lack of motivation waning. Oh, he would love to rub into his brothers' faces if he found the witch and not them.

He walked along the path until he reached the wooden house. Its windows were shut but there was smoke coming out of the chimney.

"Hello?" he said as he reached the door, and waited. He decided that Nik's talking approach might actually give the fastest result here.

Nobody replied.

He slowly walked around the corner of the house and peaked through the window cracks as far as her could, nobody seemed to be inside. Suddenly he heard a noise that from the other side of the cottage.

As he turned around the second corner, he encountered a young woman sitting next to a huge can of water. She was cleaning roots. When she saw him she jumped back a little but didn't stand up.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't want to intrude," he said rather clumsily but with a smile.

As he finished the sentence he already suspected that she would't understand him anyway.

That suspicion grew when she replied something in Welsh.

"So," he started again, "you don't speak English, do you?"

Her eyes widened in confusion, and she slowly shook her head.

Still not sure what to do next, he asked: "Is your mom maybe home? Does she have any special powers?"

Might as well go with the really stupid questions if they don't understand you.

The girl obviously didn't understand. Kol assumed she could be related to the middle aged witch. She was around twenty, maybe? Kol was never good at guessing human ages. That's a skill that's lost when you don't age yourself. Suddenly she spoke to him again. There was no fear or anger in her voice, so he assumed she didn't mind him intruding in her garden. When she was finished she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Did she ask a question?

Then she pointed back to the path and up the mountain and rephrased some unintelligible words.

"Are you asking if I'm on a pilgrimage? Then the answer is no," Kol replied with a laugh.

The girl shook her head confused and gave a laugh. She got up to her feet but apparently didn't know anything else to say either.

He had the impression her eyes moved slightly downwards. Was she looking at his chest? Wait, was she checking him out? That is an interesting turn of events, Kol thought. Now that he looked at her, he thought she was rather pretty. She had a country maid look going for her, with the curly unruly hair and her slightly tanned skin. To be honest, he was somewhat surprised that village girls seemed to be so easy. Before he could do anything with this piece of information she spoke again. And again he had no idea what she said.

She sighed impatiently and pointed to herself and said: "Briony dwi. Briony."

"That's your name. Briony," he put together.

She smiled and nodded.

"I'm Kol," he said with a gesture that probably looked idiotic.

"Kol," she nodded and smiled again.

"Well, it is nice to meet you, Briony. I am…"

They heard food steps coming up the path. Briony made a shh-sound - finally something he understood - and shoved him to the side, and she walked to the front of the house.

Huh, Kol thought, she doesn't want anyone else to see him. Interesting. True, he had no idea what she had said so far, but she didn't seem afraid or intimidated by him. On the contrary, the way she looked at him were rather signs of intrigue. In the moment she was away, he decided that if she came back and would throw herself onto him he wouldn't turn her down. First of all, that would be rude. And second, Kol couldn't think of any way that this could go wrong. He sat down on one of the tree trunks next to the house and smiled. This terrible day could still turn around.

A few minutes later she returned, still focused, with an aim in her eyes, but unfortunately not the desire that Kol was hoping for. She carried a burlap sack full with vegetables with her, whoever that just was must have given it to her, and placed it next to the entrance door. Then she walked over to him and sat down next to him, as if that was the plan all along.

She addressed him again.

At this point she must surely know that he didn't understand. When he looked at her blankly, she spoke again. She kept her eyes focused on him, and the intense way she spoke made it sound like it was important, at least to her. When she was done she looked at him expectingly. Kol shook his head. He saw that she was getting impatient. To his surprise he suddenly felt her hand on his chest. It seemed like she was actually going there. But somehow he wasn't sure if he should react to it or not. She repeated what she said before, a bit slower this time, and kept her intense look fixed on his eyes. Did she want him to kiss her?

He felt really off his game with that whole language barrier.

He hesitated. Before he could anything else, she sighed and took her hand away.

Instead she placed it on her chest, and began tapping it softly. She was imitating a heart rhythm. Then she placed it again on Kol's chest and shook her head.

A light went on Kol's head. She knew that his heart wasn't beating. How could she-

"You're a witch."


	2. The Compulsion

_**Present Day**_

Soft cool air flew through Rebekah's hair and tickled her neck. High above her she could make out some seagulls circling and flying back and forth towards the coast. That was something she always liked about New Orleans - being so close to the sea. They were on their way to the West Riverside, where the mark on the map appeared. Marcel and Davina had told Rebekah that the area had become a popular gathering place for witches in the last few years.

Coming here herself and finding out what was behind the mark seemed the obvious decision, Rebekah was sure of it. Marcel wasn't so convinced. He and Davina had already been there a few times, trying to find out who was behind the mark. Although they had a theoretical truce between witches and vampires in New Orleans, Marcel had never been popular with the witches, and now that they believed he was practically stalking them, he wasn't exactly welcome anymore at the riverside. Davina was a different matter, but since she was always seen with Marcel, they grew suspicious of her as well. Still, since it had to with her family Rebekah had to see with her own eyes.

"What is your story, Davina?" Rebekah asked, as the walked along the promenade, "why are you with Marcel?"

Marcel and Davina exchanged looks. "I'll be happy to tell you all about it, but it will take forever and we're almost there."

"You know, I have a theory of whom it could be," Marcel began. "Well, not a theory, it's more of a thought. Very unlikely."

"Yeah?" Rebekah asked absent-mindedly, as they followed the path that led to the West Riverside.

He hesitated.

"I mean, I thought about the impossibility of this, and how it makes other things less impossible."

Rebekah had a feeling where this was going.

"Couldn't it be," Marcel continued slowly, "you know, since we _know_ that it can't be you or Elijah or Nik, that one of the others…"

"No," Rebekah said firmly.

"But-" Marcel replied, but Rebekah cut him off again.

"There is no way that Fin or Kol are alive."

Before Marcel could say anything else, she added: "Let's not get our hopes up for nonsense like this."

Rebekah sped up her steps and moved in front of him. She couldn't quite it explain to herself, but Marcel's suggestion made her very angry. It already felt like a big sacrifice for her state of mind to come here, and he dares to bring up that topic?

"We're here," Davina concluded, apparently not touched by the quarrel that just happened. It was still a few steps until the promenade ended. Across the street was a huge light brown door that was slightly open. It belonged to a bar or a coffeeshop, Rebekah concluded, as she looked at the door above it saying "House Voltaire." Through the windows she saw tables and chairs and people chatting. It was a busy place and apparently popular.

"Surely not all of these people are witches, right?" Rebekah asked.

"No. Not all of them. Many are just normal costumers and tourists. But the numbers of the Crow Coven have risen in the last few years. Can't really say why, must be good in their marketing department, finding new witches, things like that" Davina replied.

"That's the coven's name?" Rebekah turned to Marcel.

"Yup, still the same name. But they don't have much to do anymore with what the coven was like 90 years ago."

"But you know which ones are the witches in the bar, I take it," Rebekah asked, turning again to Davina.

"Yes, there are not hard to spot."

Marcel was about to take a step, but Davina held him back.

"Marcel, maybe you should stay outside. Remember what happened last time?" Davina said. Marcel sighed but didn't seem to disagree with her.

"Do you think they'll mind me?" Rebekah suddenly realised that she might no be welcome either. So far she only considered confronting the witches, but she hadn't considered that they might not want to talk to her at all.

"They won't know your face. None of them were around 90 years ago. Most of them have forgotten," Marcel reassured her. That sounded almost nice, Rebekah thought. She would like to forget that time too.

Davina and Rebekah set off across the street and went to the entrance door. Before Davina pushed the door open she said: "What he meant with that, is that they don't even know you guys exist. They think you're a myth, created from the terrors that revolve around the events from back then. They know what happened though."

Somehow Davina's words almost sounded like a threat, but Rebekah couldn't tell why.

They stepped into the bright inside of the bar. It might have been the loud and lively atmosphere in this late afternoon and the sun light that pressed inside, but the place seemed even brighter than the streets outside. Rebekah looked around. The walls were clustered with photographs and posters and other gimmicks. In the front right corner was the bar. Above was a sign with the usual list of drinks and a big "Happy Hour 4-7pm" note. Suddenly someone pushed her from behind. A few guys passed her, just entering the bar. In one corner some girls shrieked about the new song that just started playing from the blaster above them. Rebekah didn't want to imagine what this place was like during Mardi Gras.

Davina must have read her thoughts and said with a laugh: "Yeah, that place is not to everyone's taste. Marcel is pretty envious of it though. Has so much more costumers than his place." Then she added: "Probably another reason why they don't want to see him here. They think he's trying to compel and steal their costumers." With the last sentence she rolled her eyes, obviously stating what she thinks of that allegation.

"Davina." They heard someone say from afar. It came from the tall man behind the counter. He looked at them with a forced smile, as he put down a new batch of clean glasses on the counter in front of him. Polite but distant, Rebekah thought. They walked over and while they walked Davina gave Rebekah a quick knowing look. Must be a witch. As they reached the counter he mustered Rebekah first, then Davina.

"So ladies, what can I do you for?" he asked in a superficially casual tone. The question he question he really wanted to ask was, Why are you here?

"I'm showing my new friend Beka around. She just moved here," Davina replied. Then she turned to Rebekah and said: "This is Louis. He's the best bartender in town." Louis raised an eyebrow but then gave a little a laugh. His postured loosened up. Rebekah thought he looked very unusual for a witch, muscular. Most witches Rebekah met were either thin or chubby, because they never had to lift a finger in their lives. His bound together hair was disgruntled. Working in a place like this probably does that to a person, Rebekah figured.

"Well, it's good to see you have some other friends, Davina." Then he reached under the counter and brought out two beers. He opened them and put them in front of the girls. He nodded and moved to the other costumers.

"He didn't ask us what we want to drink," Rebekah said while skeptically inspecting the beer.

"Don't mention it. I'm just glad he didn't kick us out."

Rebekah turned away from the counter and observed the crowd. Some guys next to the window were engaged in a drinking contest while the people next them judgingly observed them. When Davina saw what she was doing she nodded towards group that sat on table across from them.

"Those over there. Witches, all of them."

Rebekah looked at their faces but she didn't know any them. When the group saw them, they threw waspy looks at Davina and turned away and moved closer together.

"Do you know all of them?" Rebekah asked.

"I know the whole coven, unless there are some newcomers. I'll tell you all about it later."

The group must have been suspicious of Rebekah too, since they stopped talking immediately. Not that a human could hear them in loud surroundings like these, but a vampire definitely could.

Suddenly Rebekah heard two voices arguing that weren't in the room. She turned around, they came from the back office. Davina was about to ask something but Rebekah motioned her to be quiet. She listened.

 _What is she doing here?_ , said an agitated female voice.

 _Dunno, she brought a friend_ , said a male voice that Rebekah assumed was Louis.

 _A friend? And you just let her sit there? We don't know what she's up to!_ , the female voice responded.

 _You know my stance on the matter. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt. At least she didn't bring Marcel_ , Louis replied.

 _I want her out, Louis,_ the woman said.

 _This is not your bar, Freya, and by the way, if you still want her to join us it might help if we don't start a fight every time we meet her,_ Louis said. After that the woman didn't reply anymore. Davina looked at Rebekah with anticipation.

"They were talking about you," Rebekah said, and before she could elaborate, the door of the back office swung open. A woman with blonde curly hair appeared, which Rebekah figured was the female voice she just heard. She looked furious and stamped a few steps out of the door way. Then she turned around and saw Davina and was about to march over to them to kick them out when she suddenly stopped in an abrupt halt. Her eyes were on Rebekah. Rebekah could feel the woman's heart beat stop for a second and saw her blood rising into her face. She breathed heavily and took an insecure step back, still having her eyes on Rebekah. Neither of them spoke. Rebekah had no idea what to say. She didn't know the woman. Then the woman suddenly turned around and disappeared again in the door way.

Davina looked back and forth between Rebekah and the door.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know," Rebekah answered honestly.

"Do you know her?" Davina asked.

"No," Rebekah replied, "but I have the impression she knows me."

* * *

 _ **1705**_

When Kol returned to the village square the crowd was gone. He saw Elijah resting against at a wooden fence close at the other end of the square. His face told Kol that he didn't have any success.

"Thanks for nothing," Elijah said as Kol reached him.

"I wouldn't call mine finding a witch nothing. But I always had lower standards than you, Elijah," Kol replied with a smirk.

"You found the witch?" Elijah straightened up quickly, too interested to give a snide comment back.

"I found _a_ witch," Kol replied. "I don't think she's the witch we're looking for. Too young. But it's a start."

He told Elijah about what happened with Briony. After he had realised she knew that he was dead, she had asked him more things that he didn't understand. Surprisingly she didn't seem scared at all. He figured it could mean that she had already met other vampires. He told Elijah about this assumption.

"Could be," Elijah said, "but what surprises me is that she just noticed that you don't have a heart beat. It's an odd skill. I don't think I've met many witches who were able to… feel that."

"Whoever she is I'm sure we can convince her to help. She seems nice," Kol said, and then added: "I mean cooperative."

"I won't be easy without her speaking our language," Elijah concluded.

"I might have a solution for that," Nik said who suddenly stood next to them. Beside him was an odd looking middle aged man with a weak smile.

His brothers looked at him with surprise. Nik took the hint and added with a grin: "This is my good friend Rhett. He speaks basic English and agreed to help."

"Voluntarily?" Elijah asked.

"That's relative," Nik replied, "he thinks it is."

Together with Rhett they marched back to the cottage at the village border. As they closed in Briony came out of the door, apparently expecting them.

"Is that her?" Nik asked. Kol nodded.

When they arrived Briony looked at them each and then at the whole group, waiting for them to speak first.

"Briony," Kol began loudly while making big gestures towards Elijah and Nik, "these are my brothers."

"Kol, you don't have to shout at her. We can let Rhett tell her now."

Nik repeated the info to Rhett who then spoke to Briony. She nodded and smiled. Then she said something to Rhett in return.

"She asks why you are here," Rhett translated.

"Tell her we're looking for a witch," Nik said, keeping his eyes fixed on Briony.

Rhett and Briony spoke again to each other.

"She said there are no such things as witches."

Nik was about to speak again, but hesitated. Then he turned to Kol and said with an undertone: "Didn't you say you saw her doing witchcraft?"

"Yeah, I did," Kol replied quickly, " I know she's a witch."

Briony crossed her arms, tiptoed and kept her eyes on Rhett.

"I know what the problem is," Elijah suddenly said as he came to the front. "She doesn't trust Rhett. He doesn't know she's a witch."

"That's not a problem," Nik replied with a relief. "Rhett, tell her that you won't remember anything of this conversation when it's over."

Rhett repeated the sentence to Briony. Skeptically Briony moved closer to Rhett and focused on his eyes. There was a mixture of fear and interest in hers.

"Ask her if there are any other witches in this village."

Rhett did as he was told. Briony didn't reply immediately but stayed focused on Rhett for a moment. Then she answered, more calmly than before.

"She says no."

"Do you think she says the truth?" Elijah asked.

"Probably," Nik replied. Then he turned to Rhett again: "Ask her if she can show us her magic."

When Rhett finished speaking to Briony, she began to laugh. Then she shook her head and replied.

"She said she's above impressing vampires with magic tricks."

Kol saw that Nik slowly grew impatient. He also had the impression that Briony wasn't used to commands. He said: "Nik, just tell her why we're here. She won't trust us anyway until we tell her the truth."

Grudgingly Nik did as he was told, and told Rhett that they want Briony to come with them. Briony laughed again.

"She said she's happy here. She doesn't want to come with you."

"You don't understand," Nik said, now speaking to Briony directly. "What you have here is nothing compared with what you could have when you stayed with us. Don't you want to be part of something bigger? If it's true that you're the only witch in this village, you must feel useless. Hiding all the time, not using your power for anything great?" He waited. When nothing happened, he gave Rhett a shove and Rhett began to translate.

As Rhett talked Briony looked back and forth between him and Nik. Her crossed arms loosened a bit. Was she curious after all? When Rhett was done and she replied to him, however, her eyes hardened again.

"She said that might be true. But she doesn't see how some common vampires could help her with that. You're beneath her."

The last part didn't sit well with Nik. Within a second he grabbed a wooden stick that was lying nearby and staked into Kol's heart. The pain filled Kol's chest, but what he felt even more was anger. It was always him who was used as the example for the general non-dying of Originals. As Kol fell over, he heard Nik say: "We're not common vampires." And Rhett's translation followed right after.

Briony jumped back, her mouth standing open. She stared at the stake that stuck in Kol's chest and that would have killed any other vampire. Rhett began shaking and breathing heavily. As Kol got up again and un-staked himself, he already felt better. He would think about payback for his annoying brother later. Briony kept looking back and forth between him and Nik now. Kol didn't believe that this chain of events helped to gain her trust, though. Yet to some extent she looked intrigued. She was about to say something to Nik, but then turned to Rhett who still breathed heavily and started to sweat. She said something to him. He just stared at her with big eyes. She repeated it. But he didn't react.

"What is she saying?" Nik asked.

"She wants me to leave," Rhett replied.

"No, stay," Nik demanded.

Briony understood what he said and looked at him reproachfully. Then she repeated what she said before. Rhett didn't move. She repeated it again, turning her eyes to Nik. Rhett didn't budge, but kept looking back and forth between her and Nik, his eyes terrified. They both looked at each other, neither of them backing down. After a few moments, Briony sighed and rolled her eyes. She moved swiftly to Rhett and put her hand onto his forehead. She began chanting quietly. They all watched her with astonishment.

"Is she," Elijah asked slowly, "trying to break the compulsion?"

"Is that even possible?" Kol asked.

They looked at each other, not sure if they should interfere. Nik was bewildered as well. None of them has ever seen anyone trying to break the compulsion of an Original.

"This has gone on for long enough," Nik eventually said and took a step towards her. He didn't get far. As if there was an invisible wall he stuck midair and couldn't move any closer. Briony turned her head towards him, while still chanting and having her hand on Rhett's head, clearly unimpressed. Suddenly an airwave blew both Rhett and Nik over, and Kol felt the ground beneath his feet trembling. After a few seconds it was over. Briony quickly kneeled down to Rhett and helped him sit up. Rhett looked terribly pale and confused. They exchanged some words. It looked liked Briony was consoling him. Hopefully telling a lie, Kol thought. Nik was very pale as well and it took him a few moments to stand up again. Briony helped Rhett up, and he quickly looked at the brothers, but then walked away with fast steps, not looking back.

Nik was up again and he looked like he was ready for a counter attack, but Elijah held him back: "Remember that we want to convince her to come with us."

He hesitated for a moment, but then Nik turned around with a grumble and marched away.

Briony repeated what she said earlier, and by now Kol knew what the words meant. She wanted them to leave.


	3. Intimidation

_**Present Day**_

Freya shut the door behind her. At least that was what she intented, but the door slipped out of her hand and she smashed the door so loudly that probably the whole bar noticed. She took a moment to breathe.

She knew she had to expect her siblings to show up eventually but she didn't expect them to come back to New Orleans so soon. For almost a century they hadn't returned but now that she had been here for only a year they came. Did they know?

Seeing Rebekah here suggested so. She couldn't read Rebekah's attitude though. She seemed calm, maybe a bit confused. But on the other hand if Rebekah came here knowing that her sister was here, she would have been prepared obviously, Freya thought. Rebekah hadn't said anything to her, but Freya didn't want her to give a chance for that anyway. Freya felt the anger rising in her. How stupid must she have looked when she just stood there, probably in a deep red, turned around and stumbled away.

She had gone through the scenario of meeting her siblings many times. She had always seen herself staying strong, confronting them about their past, telling them what monsters they were and then turn around and never see them again. But in none of the scenarios would she just stand there awkwardly and not even open her mouth. She liked being above things and usually knew what to say. Except in this situation, it seemed.

What to do now? Run? Leaving right this second would be the easiest choice. It would take a while until they find her, and she would have time to prepare to behave less moronic at the next meeting. But was that worth leaving everything behind?

New Orleans had become a home in the last year and it would be hard to give it up. She had been hiding from her siblings from a long time and hiding took its toll. It had been hard finding friends that stayed, not even including the fact that most of them had a much shorter life span than her. Vampire friends were never a question. Not only was there the danger that they somehow figured out who she was, but also from her experiences with vampires she would never trust them enough to have as friends.

But New Orleans was different from anything she had experienced before. For the first time she had met witches whose powers seemed a match to hers. Not that Freya felt like she was particularly powerful - and there were more powerful witches than her in New Orleans, she kept reminding herself. The community of witches also shared a knowledge about magic to an extent that Freya had never seen. This place was also the first time she dared to share her past and age with such a big group of people. Well, she made herself about 500 years younger to lower the suspicion, but she told them of the curse that made her practically immortal. Some of the witches were surprised but still they knew enough about witchcraft to know that these things were possible. New Orleans had been the first time where she didn't feel like a complete outsider. No, she wanted to stay.

Fight, then? Think of the plan you had, Freya reminded herself. Her big speech about how she hated them was still possible, she just had to confront them before they had the chance to come back. Yes, that was good enough to reinstate her pride, Freya decided. She didn't want to imagine though what consequences that could have. Would her siblings go and tell everyone that she is related to them? How would the coven react? Freya felt that difficult times were heading towards her. Still, this seemed to be the best way to deal with the situation.

Suddenly Freya felt the door pushing against her back and she stumbled a few steps forward. Louis who was carrying a load of wet kitchen towels stepped inside and grumbled "Why are you standing behind the door, Freya?"

He didn't seem very interested in the answer though as he passed her without looking at her and placed the towels on the counter of the other side of the room. However, when he turned around, Freya realized she wasn't off the hook.

"Do you wanna tell me what that just was about?" he asked while nodding towards the bar.

"What do you mean?" Freya asked meekly.

"That sad scene that happened where you wanted to intimidate Davina but instead ran away?"

"I..." Freya begun. What could she say besides the truth?

"I have never seen you so upset about anything, and frankly, it concerns me. Do you know the other girl? Is she dangerous?"

"Yes, and yes" Freya said slowly. Then she had an idea and added quickly: "She's an Original."

Louis opened his mouth and closed it again. With a second attempt he replied slowly: "An original vampire? How would you know?"

"Because I've seen her before. About 90 years ago."

She told him how she had seen Rebekah and her brothers in New Orleans the last time they were there. She told him who Rebekah was, but for now she left out how she herself fit into the story. Louis was too startled by the story to ask why she was in New Orleans back then as well.

When Freya finished her story Louis looked at her in fear. "Well, that's not good then, that one if them is here again. Considering what happened last time."

"If it's only her we can handle it," Freya replied with a stern face.

"I know you're a strong believer of the power of the crow coven and all that, but do we really know what we're dealing with? Besides, we already have that quarrel with the werewolves. And we're certainly not powerful enough on two fronts."

"Don't use that name for the coven. It's idiotic. But let's not get ahead of ourselves," Freya waved him down. "We don't even know yet what she wants from us."

Louis nodded slowly.

"What do you think she wants from us?" He asked, wringing his hands. Then he added: "Wait, do you think she knows about the magical heap in the woods?"

Freya had wondered about that too, but she didn't let herself worry about anything but her sister.

"Who knows. Maybe she won't stay long."

If I can convince her to leave, Freya thought.

* * *

 _ **1705**_

A few days had passed since the brothers' encounter with the witch, but they hadn't made any new attempts to talk to her. Elijah had suggested to give it some rest before they reached out to Briony again, and even Nik had to agree that they wouldn't make any way by using force.

"Have you ever thought about that it might not be the smartest idea to persuade a witch that is more powerful than us to come with us?" Kol asked, as they looked over the fields that led up into the mountains.

"I mean," he added, "will it not be more likely that we end up doing her bidding than the other way around?"

"She's not more powerful than us," Nik replied.

"Yeah, you were totally in charge when she broke that compulsion of yours," Kol snorted.

"She took me by surprise, that's all," Nik said as he glanced over to Kol with narrowed eyes.

"Maybe let me talk to her," Kol suggested. "I have the impression she likes me better than you."

Nik became restless. "No, I don't think so."

"It might be a good idea," Elijah weighed in. "Let Kol talk to her first."

Nik hesitated. Then he turned to Kol and looked at him intensely. "You better take it serious," he said.

"Don't worry. The faster I can leave this place the happier I'll be," Kol replied with a wink. Then he stepped out on the path that led to the cottage.

On his way there a doubt came over him. When he had offered to talk to Briony he hadn't really thought about what he wanted to say to her. He believed his chances to persuade her were marginally better than Nik's but how he was supposed to do it was above him. With every step he felt less secure on what to do. When he reached the cottage he was happy to see that Briony wasn't outside. Anything that gave him a few moments more to think.

The moment didn't last long as suddenly the cottage door swung open and Briony appeared, obviously not happy to see him. When she saw him she looked around skeptically.

"It's just me," Kol said while raising his hands. "I'm just here to talk."

Now he only had to know about what. Briony didn't make any attempts to reply and kept observing him like a hawk while still holding the door open with one hand.

"You know," Kol began making up his mind, "I guess we got off the wrong foot. We don't mean you any harm. Actually we tried to impress you. But I can see now that my brothers and I are terrible at first impressions."

Briony didn't reply but her eyes softened a bit.

"I take it you still have no idea what I'm saying but that's fine. I'm talking nonsense most of the time anyway. What I'm trying to say is that I don't know if you'd be happy if you came with us, but it will probably be more interesting than staying here. Nik wants me to tell you that it will be the best decision of your life, but between us, he has a tendency for the dramatic. But here I am trying to convince you to come with us because mainly I wanna go home. But you don't understand anything so I guess none of what I said reached you."

Briony raised an eyebrow. Still, she looked friendlier than before.

"You're still paying attention. That's a good sign," he smiled.

She smiled back. _Kol_ , he thought, _you still got it._

"What now? Do you want me to continue babbling? I have more tales that you can pretend listening too if you that's what you're into."

Briony slowly closed the door behind her while her eyes still rested on Kol. Then she said something that sounded like a command. She moved passed him and gave him a push to follow her.

"Where are we going?" Kol asked.

Briony walked up to the road and then looked to both sides. Then she looked back to Kol. He walked up to her to the road. She asked him a question which indicated that he apparently had to tell her the way.

"Wait, do you want to go to my brothers? To Nik and Elijah?"

She nodded. Surprised he showed her the way to where he left his brothers. He highly doubted that he convinced her to go with them but it was a start.

When they reached Nik and Elijah they were clearly surprised to see them back so quickly.

"Seriously, Nik, just show yourself from your best side," Kol heard Elijah saying.

"Shut up," Nik replied, but he seemed to take the advice and tried to look as unintimidating as possible.

"What did she say?" Elijah asked.

"How would I know? But she wanted to come here," Kol replied.

Elijah turned to Briony who, unexpectedly, smiled at him.

"She changed her mind?" Elijah asked, slightly unsure. Kol could sense some hope in his voice, and he was surprised that Elijah thought it could be so easy.

"I don't think so. But maybe she wanted to give the conversation another chance."

Nik who until now stayed in the background took a step to the front but Elijah held him back.

"What does she want to talk about?" Elijah asked and turned to Briony again.

Briony who then realized that all eyes were now on her, expecting some kind of answer, smiled even more.

After a short pause, which Kol was sure she only made to build up suspense, Briony picked up a small rock from the ground. She inspected it quickly and then turned to the brothers again. She said something with a laugh, and Kol had the impression that she didn't even want them understand. After she was done with her story about the rock, which she evidently enjoyed, she threw the stone back on the ground.

Kol and Elijah exchanged looks. Maybe Briony wasn't the sane kind of girl.

Then she closed her eyes and began chanting.

"Should we do anything against it?" Kol asked.

"I don't think we can," Elijah replied and took a step back. Kol had a bad feeling about this.

When she was done with her chant, she opened her eyes again, obviously pleased with herself.

The brothers looked at each other confused. What was that about? Then Kol felt it. The familiar feeling of the force that pulled him away at his back. The feeling when he got un-invited from a house. Just this time, it didn't make sense because they were standing on a meadow and not in a house. He wasn't the only one who was under the spell as he suddenly saw both his brothers struggling staying on their feet. Briony began to laugh in an almost child-like manner.

Just as he expected to be pulled away to wherever he felt Briony's hand grab his arm. She turned to him and quickly interrupted her laughter to say something to him. Immeditately the pulling stopped and he stumbled forwards over his feet. His brothers weren't so lucky and he saw them fly over 100 feet across the meadow until they disappeared in a forest.

Baffled, Kol looked into the direction to where they disappeared, while Briony next to him still laughed. To his own astonishment his dominant feeling about this was awe. Never had he seen his brothers so useless against an opposed power. He had a hard time repressing a smirk on his lips.

Shortly after Briony turned around and walked down the path the way they came from. Still baffled by what just happened Kol had trouble keeping up with Briony.

"You agreed to meet with us just to mess with us, didn't you?" Kol said, slowly realizing what happened. "I have to admit I'm impressed," he continued with a laugh.

Briony laughed too, still in a good mood after the success of her spell. He realized that she was heading home now that her work was done.

When they reached the cottage she turned around to face him.

"I guess this is goodbye," Kol begun. He rested his view on Briony. "Now I almost wished you came with us. If you did that to my brothers on a regular basis we'd be great friends," Kol said.

Briony replied to his laugh in the same manner.

"Well, I'll let you be then. If you ever change your mind let me know," Kol continued, "I'm sure you got some spell up your sleeve to find me."

Kol hesitated to step away. Somehow he felt that he'd regret it.

Briony, too, hesitated to go back into the house. Kol wasn't sure what she was waiting for.

"Okay, I should go look for my brothers now. It was nice meeting-" He couldn't finish the sentence as he suddenly felt her warm lips pressed against his. It took him completely by surprise as he felt her body touching his chest.

It must only have took a few seconds. Kol suddenly found himself walking towards the meadow for the search of his brothers. He wasn't sure if he even had said goodbye. Briony had smiled after the kiss but then shoved him away to leave.

Kol's feet slowed down. He could still turn around and go back.

He sighed. No, he couldn't leave his brothers right now. He would go and find them, they'd be angry but he'd calm them down and they'd probably go home.

He already regretted his decision.


	4. Fire

_**Present Day**_

"I don't know why you're jealous of the witch bar's success. This one has much more class," Rebekah said as she sat on the bar stool and passed a view over the interior of the Stingaree. Unlike the other bar it looked orderly and the furniture actually matched. Rebekah was surprised that anything Marcel put together could look so tidy. It was just past noon and the bar was empty, but Rebekah definitely preferred it to the busy atmosphere of House Voltaire.

"I'm not jealous of the witch bar," Marcel said, taken aback. "Did Davina say that? I don't do jealous!"

Rebekah raised her hands with a laugh. "Fine, I take it back. No one's jealous of anything."

Her thoughts wandered back to the day before. She just couldn't explain what happened at the bar. The blonde woman was obviously scared from her, but Rebekah had no idea how she knew her. Before Rebekah could ask she had already left. All she saw was the back of the woman disappearing in the doorway from where she had come. After that Davina and her had decided to leave the bar. Rebekah had many questions, but Davina didn't want to answer them amongst so many curious ears. When outside Davina had told her that the woman's name was Freya, and that she had been in the coven for a while. However she never noticed anything special about her. Later, together with Marcel, they put together that the woman must know about the Originals, which probably meant she had told the whole coven by now. So much for a low profile entrance in New Orleans.

"What else do you know about that woman? Freya?" she asked Marcel.

"Besides what I already told you not much. She arrived here a year ago or so. But that doesn't really stand out. The coven has gotten many new members in the last few years. We were wondering about that though, it's like they're preparing for something," he replied.

"Preparing?"

"Gathering forces? We don't know. It just looks like they're building up something."

This didn't sound like news to Rebekah. From what she remembered, there was always someone up to something in New Orleans. It had been the same when they had lived here one hundred years earlier. She smiled. The last few years had been rather quiet. There was not much supernatural meddling in New York, and Rebekah and her brothers mostly stayed among themselves. This intricate intermezzo of supernatural beings that constantly battled each other felt like a surprisingly welcome change. Rebekah had never realised that she actually she missed this. How odd it felt to be yearning for trouble.

"What's odd though," Marcel continued, who didn't take on Rebekah's sudden sense of nostalgia, "is how little there is to know about Freya. I asked one of my men to find out more about her, but he didn't find anything. No family, no birth certificate, no previous life."

"Sounds like she's a very private person," Rebekah concluded with a raised eyebrow. Those were usually the most dangerous ones, she thought.

"We should find out if she knows you in particular, or if she knows your brothers as well," Marcel suggested.

"Who might know us?" they heard a familiar voice coming from the entrance.

Rebekah turned around and saw Elijah and Nik standing in the doorway. Elijah entered first and Rebekah could tell from his face that she was about to get a lecture. Nik who first looked at her as well, slowly turned and inspected the bar.

"Is this your place, Marcel?" he asked. Rebekah believed she could sense some awe in his voice. And some jealousy, but that didn't surprise her. Apparently no one in this family could be content with their own achievements.

Before Marcel had a chance to reply, Rebekah got up to her feet and demanded: "What on earth are you doing here? How did you find me?!" she said, as she quickly got up to her feet.

Neither of them didn't look particularly happy. And she wasn't happy to see them.

Elijah walked over to her while throwing a large bag on one of the tables. Rebekah couldn't but be amazed that in their pursuit of her they even found time to pack.

"Rebekah, apart from the fact that you can't just run off in the middle of the night, you come here? To New Orleans?!"

"It's not a big a deal!" Rebekah replied offensively.

"Yes it is!" Nik replied angrily.

"No it isn't! It's only a big deal because you make it a big deal!" She didn't fully believe that, but she also didn't want to give in to her condescending brothers.

"You're completely careless. There is a reason we never returned!"

By now she stood nose to nose to them, which had happened more often than she wished in the last few years. She crossed her arms.

"I can go wherever I want! Just because you lot messed up, I don't need to follow your stupid restrictions!"

"Guys, can you please tone it down?" Marcel tried to weigh in, who out of old habit knew to stay in the background. But no one paid attention to him.

"You're not even considering that I thought about my actions! That I came here for a reason! No, stupid Rebekah only does things because she's an idiot!" Rebekah shouted back. Why could they never leave her alone? Their faces alone made her furious.

"At least tell us, Beks, before you put yourself in mortal danger!" Nik replied angrily.

"No one is in mortal danger here except you two because I'm about to stab you with this coffee spoon!"

Marcel tried again, a bit louder this time: "Guys, you're scaring away costumers?"

"Oh please, nobody's here, Marcel," Rebekah snapped back.

"Rude," Marcel replied meekly. "At least don't destroy the furniture. Please."

Elijah took a step back. Trying hard to restrain himself he said: "Okay, let's all take a deep breath."

Between teeth he added slowly: "Can you kindly tell us why you're here, Rebekah?"

Rebekah crossed her arms again. She considered a few new insults, but then again, she didn't want to be the one who started the new quarrel. No, she was the reasonable one, she reminded herself.

"Sure," she replied clenching her teeth. Then she told them about Marcel's letter and what happened the day before. While she kept talking, her brothers became less agitated and listened intensely. It took her about five minutes, in which all of them had calmed down and sat down on the chairs in a crescent circle. At the end of her story they seemed to have forgotten about the fight they just had.

When she was done they sat in the bar in silence. Only now that Rebekah had told the events to her brothers she began to realize the gravity of the situation. Not once, in the thousand years of their lifetime, had anyone ever been connected to their family in this way. She was completely unaware that this was even possible. In her brother's faces she could read that they thought the same.

Nik spoke first: "If she's got Mikaelson blood in her...What does that mean? Blood spell?"

"We thought about that too," Marcel replied, "but those kind of spells are pretty hardcore witchcraft. Davina would have noticed if someone with those kinds of skills would be in New Orleans."

"Well, let's not rule it out because of it. Personally I didn't even know that was possible. Could it be a group of witches even?"

Marcel raised his shoulders. There were clearly enough witches in New Orleans, but Rebekah doubted they had knowledge for something like this, especially ini regards to Davina's earlier comment that most of them didn't even know about the Originals until now.

"The other question though is what she wants," Elijah continued when nobody replied. "She must know us somehow. She wasn't one of the witches of the coven in the 20s I take it?"

"No, I would have recognized her," Marcel replied.

"Also unlikely, considering they all died," Rebekah added quietly. She peaked at Nik who looked sightly uncomfortable and didn't say anything.

"Angry witch relative maybe?" Elijah suggested.

"I don't think we get far with speculating," Rebekah said. The only thing they could be sure of was that Freya had some sort of connection to them. They needed to confront her again.

Rebekah didn't expect the talk to happen immediately, but to her surprise Freya suddenly came through the door.

* * *

 _ **1705, London, One week later**_

"And then Nik and Elijah literally flew across the meadow! Completely helpless! You should have been there. It was, by far, the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life!" Kol laughed, and threw another piece of wood into the fire. They sat in the living room in their townhouse in London. It was unusual cool evening in late spring, and the fireplace was the only light source throwing shadows over the chairs and the sofa in the room. Rebekah next to him listened enchantedly and laughed as well. It was not the first time she had heard the story but that didn't diminish her delight.

"I almost regret that I stayed here," she replied. "But then again, I'm glad I didn't have to search through the village several times while walking through ankle deep mud."

"Frankly, Rebekah, in the aftermath I don't even mind that part anymore. It was worth the trouble!" Kol announced celebratorily.

"You wouldn't find it that funny if you had been the one flying across the meadow," Elijah replied from the back, who, after a week of constant humiliation, had grown tired of the topic. He stretched his legs across the carpet and leaned his head at the back of the chair. But Kol wasn't ready to let go of it just yet. He turned to Elijah.

"But it wasn't me who flew across the meadow. You know why, Elijah? Because I'm friendly to people."

"I wouldn't consider how you behaved to that girl as just 'friendly'," Elijah snorted.

"I have to agree with Elijah there," Rebekah said reproachful, "making out with this woman while your brothers could be in peril... Honestly, Kol."

"It wasn't like that," he waved her down. Then he added: "I wish it was like that. Anyway, it wasn't a big deal, even though some people might haven taken it very seriously."

They hadn't seen Niklaus since that day. After Kol had found his brothers - completely unharmed, as he kept telling them - Nik somehow had the impression that what happened was Kol's fault. It was a mystery to Kol how he in any way could have foreseen these events. He had been trying to explain to Nik that he hadn't understood anything that Briony did neither, but Nik wouldn't listen. According to him, it was very suspicious that Kol had stayed unharmed. After their fight Nik stormed away, and eventually Elijah and Kol decided to go home without him.

"How long do you think will he not speak to me?" Kol replied, rather untouched. This had happened so many times before. By now Kol had lost count how often Nik had gotten so angry that he decided to ignore Kol. He was just glad he hadn't staked him again. He wondered if Nik went to look for Finn again. The only person who had more fights with Nik than Kol was Finn, but usually when he got into a fight with one of them, it was usually time to forgive the other.

"He can't be mad at you for that long. He must realize that you had nothing to with it," Rebekah replied as she played with the ember that occasionally sprung out of the fire.

"I can't really speak in your favour concerning your behaviour in the situation, because I'm sure I heard you laughing. But I agree it wasn't your fault. And Niklaus will eventually get that, too." Elijah added.

"I didn't laugh. A little bit maybe," Kol replied with a smirk.

"I'm amazed how any of you still don't know when to shut up," Elijah concluded with a small laugh and got up.

The night drew on and soon after Elijah and Rebekah retired to their rooms and left Kol behind by himself. He took over Elijah's chair and looked inside the fireplace. The ember was almost gone. His followed the small glowing pieces that danced until they disappeared in the air. The room still smelled like fire. Kol always liked this about their London home, the smell of fire that reminded of being outside. He smiled again, as he relived his memory of the current events. He liked telling that story, and not just because he could continually tease his brothers with it. The kiss. It was a nice memory. The sensation of regret slowly crept up his spine. It had been there since the moment he left the village, but he couldn't fully say what it was, why his gut told him he should have stayed behind.

His feet felt warm. He was surprised the fireplace still exhaled so much warmth. The last few pieces of ember had almost disappeared by now.

Wait, where was this smell coming from? Now Kol was sure the smell of fire got stronger. It couldn't be the fireplace. It was almost completely dark. Something wasn't right. He got up.

His feet jumped back as they touched the ground. It felt like he was standing on a stove. He tried to move away but with every step the pain got worse. The boiling ground immediately burnt through his soles and burnt off the skin of his feet. The smell of his molten skin crept in his nose but that was nothing compared to the pain. With all his might he tried to stay upright so the rest of his body wouldn't touch the invisible source of heat. It was too dark to see anything but he was sure his feet were on fire. Before he could do anything else his lungs filled with smoke and he began coughing. He tried to shout but nothing except an incomprehensible gasp came out of his mouth. Unable to counter the invisible attack, he felt the fire creeping up his legs and he was forced to fall on his knees. Now the fire moved quickly over his whole body. Everything happened so fast. Kol didn't have much time to realize what was happening but between burning to death and suffocating from the smoke he was sure he was going to die.

Suddenly he heard a loud scream that filled the room. The scream pierced his ears but he didn't care where it came from, as his eyes watered until he was completely unable to see anything and they slowly gave in to the darkness. It was the last thing he remembered. He didn't feel his body smashing on the ground.

"Kol?"

Elijah was hovering over him and shaking him. Everything was turning. It took Kol a while to figure out where he was. He heard his name again.

"Can you hear me?"

Kol tried to give an answer but the words didn't come out as easily as he wanted. Slowly his view cleared and he saw Elijah's shape more clearly. Next to him he recognized Rebekah, with the same worried face as Elijah. Again he tried to say something but his brain and mouth didn't seem to work in sync just yet.

"Let's pull him up."

He felt how his siblings lifted him into a sitting position. They rested him against an armchair. His head slowly stopped spinning. He realized he was still in the living room.

"Ouch," he said.

"What happened, Kol?" he heard Elijah saying.

What did happen? That unimaginable pain. Kol looked at his feet and legs. They looked intact. Nothing hurt. How did he heal so quickly?

"I..." he mumbled, "was on fire. I think."

"What?" Elijah asked confused, who too looked at Kol's unharmed legs. Kol realized that his pants weren't burnt either. That didn't make sense.

"Who screamed?" Elijah asked, turning back to Kol.

"Screamed?" Kol repeated.

"There was someone screaming. We heard it and ran in here. But it was just you here lying on the ground," Rebekah said.

Kol tried to get his thoughts together and recapitulated. "I smelled smoke and I was… I thought I was on fire. I heard a scream, but I don't know where it came from."

As he heard himself retelling what happened he realized something wasn't right. His words were true and the same time they weren't. Was he really on fire? He couldn't be. The whole situation that just happened felt like a memory. But now it dawned on him that it might not be his.

Was it even him that was on fire?

Suddenly he knew where the pain was coming from.

"The witch," he mumbled and he tried to sit up right. "Briony. I think she's dying."

After a few minutes to regain his strength Kol made a decision. He was back in his room and grabbed a bag and nervously thought about what to pack. He was going back to the Welsh village. After a few seconds he abolished his packing schedule again and decided to just leave right now. He didn't need to bring anything. His nerves were on high. Whatever had happened to him told him that the situation contained an urgency that couldn't wait any second longer.

Before he could rush out, however, Rebekah and Elijah appeared in his door.

"Let's think about it for a second, Kol. Don't just rush out into the night before you know what you're in for," Elijah urged him.

"No time to think about it," Kol said, quickly reconsidering his bag. Maybe he should bring human food? Clothes?

"Why do you even think she wants your help?" Elijah asked again.

"Because I told her she could contact me," Kol replied impatiently. He could get food on the way, if needed, that should be enough.

"Didn't you say she wouldn't understand a word you were saying?" Rebekah asked.

"I'm sure she got the gist," Kol answered absent-mindedly.

"Kol," Elijah began, "you have to admit it's a bit fishy. This woman has been messing with us for the sole reason of her having the powers to do so. How do you know it's not happening again? That she's playing you?"'

Kol didn't have time for this. He couldn't explain it but seldomly in his life had he been so sure of a thing. He turned to his siblings who were still blocking the door. "It's simple. I'm going right now and you cannot stop me. You can either stay here or come with me."


	5. Second Encounters

**Present Day**

There she sat at the bar with her flowy blond hair talking to Marcel and some others Freya couldn't see from the corner of the window. Freya had just walked over from the pier and was set on finally having the confrontation she had been thinking of for a long time.

She remembered the first time she had seen her sister in the 1920s. Her heart had made a little jump when she had realized it was her little sister. Back then she had actively searched for her siblings, still thinking they were good people she wanted in her life. Until then she hadn't even known herself that she wanted a family. But suddenly it had become such a real possibility. Just like now Freya had observed her from afar. She remembered how angry she was with herself that she didn't have the courage to talk to her in that moment and had left instead. But later, after she had seen how they killed innocent people and what they were capable of doing only to save their own lives, she was glad that her brothers and sister didn't know she existed. Not this family of monsters. As the years went by she eventually had decided that she wasn't interested in having a family at all, not even a little sister. Her whole life she had been by herself and it had worked out fine. And her previous encounter with Rebekah and her brothers were just a reminder why she never wanted a family.

For a second Freya contemplated her own reflection in the window. There was definitely a similarity between her and Rebekah. They couldn't be mistaken for twins but one could see they were related if one knew. Mostly the hair, Freya thought. Rebekah's hair was straight and Freya wondered if it was always like that or if it was naturally curly like her own. They had a similar facial structure as well, but the expressions couldn't be further apart. Her own face looked smarter, sterner, Freya thought. How Rebekah's face could look so innocent after everything she had done was a mystery to Freya.

She was hoping she could catch Rebekah alone but Freya didn't know if it made sense to wait until the other people left. Time was pressing, she told herself. And now she still had the element of surprise, one of the few advantages she had over vampires. No, it didn't matter that other people would hear her. She'd tell anyone who was around. And she could handle some low basic vampires, that she was sure of it. Sooner or later the whole town would know about their family ties anyway.

With one last deep breath she marched to the door and swung it open.

Immediately she caught Rebekah's eyes and she took a few steps towards her. They all sat up quickly. Freya felt the others' eyes on her but she kept hers fixed on Rebekah.

Before anyone else could say anything, Freya begun: "Leave me alone, you low-life have no right to look for me. I don't know how you found me, but let me tell you I don't want to know you. You mean nothing to m-"

Freya's voice broke off. Those faces. Elijah. Niklaus. She suddenly realized that Rebekah wasn't her only sibling in the room. She looked back and forth between the three, using all her might not to shake. Their eyes were all fixed on her. She didn't know where to look. Her throat felt like it was blocked by piece of rock.

"Uhm, who are you again, love?" she heard Rebekah saying.

But Freya barely registered her. _Keep it together,_ _Freya._ She remembered that she had to breathe. None of them spoke, which gave her a moment to get back on track. _One or three is not a big difference. Stick to the plan._ Her head felt like a swarm of bees. She stared at the chair between Rebekah and Niklaus.

With a shaky voice she continued: "You're terrible people and I don't want to have anything to do with you. I don't need you in my life."

She didn't dare to look up anymore but she really hoped that this performance looked somewhat convincing.

"Who are you?" Niklaus asked her again while his eyes studied her face.

Freya rolled her eyes. The stupid question gave her back some courage. Dealing with idiocy by lecturing people usually came easy to her. "No need to play games. I know that you know about me. Else you wouldn't be here."

Her three siblings exchanged looks, but Freya couldn't tell what they thought. She grew impatient and balled her hands to fists, anything to give her strength.

"What is it you think we know?" Elijah asked her.

Freya studied his face. It was blank. She wasn't sure if she just didn't know him enough to read his face, but he looked confused. The other two had the same expression. Doubt came over her. Were they serious? Did they actually not know her? Or was it all just a trick? Did they play a game with her? _It must be_ , Freya thought. Terrible people like to play games.

"Very funny. Let's cut the jest and be serious. We all know why you're looking for me. And I tell you I don't care," she repeated and crossed her arms. She felt how how deep down some tears were making their way to her eyes, but Freya forced them down again. No, she wouldn't cry over something like this. And she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of her tears.

"We don't know who you are!" Rebekah replied to her impatiently.

Freya took a step back. Her legs began shaking again. Were they actually telling the truth? Rebekah still looked at her impatiently, Niklaus had a somewhat anticipating look and Elijah observed her with a skeptical expression.

A realization slowly overwhelmed her. No, this couldn't be happening. Her stomach turned upside down with the thought that she might just have openly introduced herself to the people she was hiding from for over 90 years. Could this situation get any worse?

Her mind began racing. What to do? So far they didn't know who she was, and Freya's gut told her to leave it at that and just turn and run. But her brain knew she wouldn't get far now that she made herself suspicious. She wouldn't even make it to the door. They wouldn't let her leave. Might as well rip the band-aid off as quickly as possible. There was no time to consider any consequences and she made a decision.

"I am…" Freya tried to sound as firm as she possibly could, "your sister."

Freya took a deep silent breath. Dumbfounded, they all stared at her in silence. She had to admit their surprise looked genuine. Maybe they weren't lying after all.

"No way." Marcel broke the silence. But Niklaus turned him down with a gesture, while keeping his eyes fixed on Freya. She slowly took a step back.

"He's right. That cannot be," he added.

"It's true," Freya replied, this time with a firm voice. She couldn't explain it where it came from, but her superior knowledge about the relation to her siblings gave her some courage. It was the last straw of agency she could have over them.

Again they all looked at her in silence. Again Freya moved her eyes between Rebekah, Niklaus and Elijah, but they all had the same unreadable expression. She couldn't tell where this was going.

After a pause that felt like an eternity, Elijah suddenly said: "I'm sorry but this is a very weak attempt to get to us."

Freya couldn't believe it. First they didn't know who she was and now they didn't even believe her? She was honestly offended that they'd think she would make up a story like this. Did they think she wanted this? Are they really so full of themselves to think that somebody wants to be related to them?

"Why would I make up something like this?" she barked. Again she was close to tears, but this time they were tears of anger.

Elijah seemed surprisingly untouched by the whole thing.

"I don't know. You tell us."

Her finger nails pressed against her palms. Until now she didn't even think it was possible to loathe them as much as in this moment. It was humiliating. This is not how she thought this conversation would play out at all. It couldn't get any messier than this.

She remembered her earlier gut feeling to leave the place right this moment and this time she followed it. She didn't care anymore if they'd try to stop her or fight her, anything was better than speaking one more word with any of them. Without losing any last look on her brothers or sister she turned around and marched to the door and left the bar. To her own surprise, no one stopped her.

 **1705, Ysbyty Ifan**

Kol surveyed the gloomy meadow leading up to the village they had left a week earlier. A grisly fuzz of rain fell on his skin, but he almost didn't notice. He had more pressing thoughts on his mind. From afar the village looked just the way they had left it, very quiet in this cool and dark morning.

"You didn't have to come, you know," he said, turning to Elijah and Rebekah next to him.

"You thought we'd just let you go by yourself?" Elijah replied softly.

"Thanks," Kol answered.

To be honest he was glad they came with happened a day earlier, and he still couldn't fully explain it, was something he had never experienced like that. Never before had he felt so close to death, and if that was expecting him here again he was glad his siblings were on his side.

They slowly walked along the muddy main road through the village. Now from a close view it was clear that the village had changed. Something in the air was different. Window blinds were shut, there was no one outside. Here and there they heard a muffling behind a door. Compared to the vivid life they had encountered the last time the village now felt empty. Behind a slit in a window shutter Kol thought he had seen a pair of eyes, but they disappeared the moment he saw them. He realized they weren't welcome guests anymore.

"Kol," Rebekah said.

Kol turned to her. She seemed worried. When he caught her eye she nodded into the direction of the alley that led to the main square. His heart began to race as he saw dark pillars of dust rising on the empty square. He rushed towards it with big steps. If the view hadn't given it away, the smell would have. Something had burned here recently. He walked up to the grand black circle on the ground. There was a black tree stump in the middle, or what was left of it, surrounded with ashes and burned coal. Kol's eyes nervously searched the ground. He couldn't make out any human parts or anything else. The fire had burned for too long.

He looked around the square. Same as everywhere else, the windows and doors were shut. Nothing to give away what had happened.

"I'm sorry, Kol." He felt Rebekah's hand on his arm. He pulled his arm away from her grip. It couldn't be true.

"No," he simply said and began searching the surroundings. He walked up and down the square, frantically searching, not really knowing where to go, who to ask for information.

"Kol, that won't help," Elijah interrupted. He and Rebekah still stood in the middle of the square, following his movements with their eyes, worried.

"You don't know that she died!" he shouted. He didn't want to sound so upset, but he didn't seem to fully master his emotions anymore. There was no reason to be upset, he told himself. Because she couldn't be dead. She mustn't be.

"You do smell the burned human flesh, right?" Rebekah asked. Kol smelled it, too.

"That means someone had burnt here. We don't know if it was the witch, but they have definitely burned someone at the stake here."

"It just doesn't make any sense," Kol replied, mostly to himself. Why would he be led here if she was already dead? Why would she want him to help if didn't even have the capability to do so?

The cottage. He suddenly had a realization. There he might be able to find out more. He turned again and headed towards the small road that led out of the village to the mountains and towards Briony's cottage.

"Kol, wait," Elijah said, as he and Rebekah tried to keep up with him.

Kol didn't take the time to turn around to face them, or even register them. No, he needed to get to the cottage as quick as possible. They reached the last few houses of the village and the road grew rockier and muddier.

"Kol," Rebekah said again, slightly behind him.

He ignored her and kept walking. She couldn't be dead. This is not how he wanted this to end.

"Kol!" Elijah shouted from further behind.

"What?!" Kol turned around, slightly irritated. He started to regret that he brought his two siblings along. Then saw Elijah and Rebekah standing several ten feet behind him, rooted at the spot.

"Why aren't you moving?" he asked them impatiently.

"Because we can't," Elijah answered.

Kol took a few steps back towards them and observed. "What do you mean, you can't? Why not?"

Elijah considered it for a moment, and then came to a realization: "It must the invitation spell from Briony. Do you remember how she invited you but un-invited Niklaus and me from her home which is this ground? This must be the border."

"Oh," Kol replied. He had completely forgot about that part. He didn't even consider that this spell could be anything longterm.

"Wait, this is the spell you were talking about?" Rebekah interrupted. "You know what that means, right?"

Elijah and Kol looked at her.

"If the spell is still intact," she replied, "she must be alive."

Kol's heart sank.

"You're right," he replied with new found energy. Now he only had to find her. He just had to get to the cottage.

"You two just wait here!" he said to his siblings. "Or anywhere else, I don't care. I'll be back as soon as I got her!"

Without giving them a chance to reply he rushed off along the path that led to the cottage.

As he got closer to the cottage he could already smell it. More fire, more smoke. It didn't matter, he told himself, she was alive somewhere. When he arrived at the spot where the cottage used to stand, there was not much left of it anymore. It looked even worse than he imagined. All there was left was part of the back wall. Everything else had fallen together and buried whatever was underneath with fire and ashes. The heavy rain of the days before only made it worse and destroyed and washed away what might have survived. It was hard to believe that the place he was only a week earlier had been the same as this one. He walked around the ruins of the house. There was nothing to salvage. And she wasn't here. There was no smell of burned human flesh either.

But he smelled something else. Someone was in the woods behind the ruins of the house. He followed his instincts and made way for whoever was hiding in the forest.

It didn't take long and he arrived at a small glade. It was still raining and he heard the drops whirring on the long grass. Then he saw her. She was sitting at the edge of the glade, staring apathetically into nowhere.

"Briony?"

He only realized now that her hair and her dress were soaked wet. She looked up to him in surprise. Her eyes were red and swollen. Slowly he walked over to her. She swept her wet hair out of her face, but didn't show any intention of getting up.

"I've been looking for you," Kol said. "Are you alright?"

She didn't reply. Her skin had a blue-ish tone,which made Kol wonder how long she had been out here.

"Have you been sitting here in the rain the whole time? That can't be too good for mortals," Kol tried again. "Not that I'm an authority on that matter."

Briony looked at him but then turned away and buried her face in her hands. She began sobbing quietly. Hesitantly, Kol sat down next to her.

"The way I understand it, they found out you're a witch and tried to burn you at the stake. I'm not sure how you survived that, but I'm glad you did," he said. Then he added: "And my brothers and me being here last week as total strangers and prancing around your house probably didn't help in that witch hunt situation either. I'm sorry." He didn't know what else to say.

Briony didn't look up again, and they sat next to each other in silence.

They stayed like this for at least an hour, and Kol was a bit worried about her still sitting in the rain, but then it did seem the best idea to wait for her until she was ready to react. After a few minutes his clothes were soaked with water as well and a cold sticky feeling dispersed over his body. He could only imagine how she felt after a day like this.

Eventually she looked up. Her eyes still looked the same as before.

"Do you wanna go somewhere warm?" he asked her and held out his hand to her.

With a weak smile she took his hand, and he lifted her up. She was shaking but seemed resolute enough to follow him wherever he went. He led her back through the forest, never letting go of her hand. Sometimes he talked or made a comment, and she weakly smiled at him but never replied. Still he had the impression, the talking lifted her mood a bit.

They eventually found Elijah and Rebekah on the edge of the forest. Kol figured it wasn't the smartest idea for Briony's peace of mind or her safety to walk her right back into the village, and therefore decided to take a detour. And since she didn't show any kind of protest, he believed she agreed with his plan. Elijah and Rebekah awaited them eagerly.

"What happened to her?" Rebekah asked, slightly in worry by the drenched clothes.

"Found her in the woods. I think she was hiding the whole time," Kol explained. Then he turned to Briony who already mustered Rebekah. "Briony, this is my sister Rebekah. You already know Elijah," he said as he nodded to his siblings.

Briony regarded them intently but then seemed to accept them. She looked around in search for something. Then she turned to Kol and asked him a question. When he didn't reply she repeated the sentence slightly differently.

"You're asking where my brother Nik is?" Kol guessed.

Briony nodded.

"He's not here."

Kol couldn't tell what she made with this piece of information. After this it didn't need much to convince her to come with them. Kol had the impression she had already made up her mind before. Considering the options she had left he wasn't surprised.

As they sat in the carriage on the road back to London, Kol reflected on the events of the last few days. He felt Briony's head resting on his shoulder. She hadn't cried again but was obviously upset, but after a while in the carriage she had eventually fallen asleep. Kol figured it must have been the first time in a while. Elijah who sat across him gave him a meaningful look. Kol immediately understood what he meant, because he was thinking the same. The absence of their brother in regards to the witch hunt was highly suspicious. The moment Kol had stepped out of the door in London a feeling had crept up his back that this is probably not a coincidence.

"So?" Elijah asked, clearly suggesting that he also thought about Nik.

"So what? Is there anything we can do about it?" Kol replied.

"What are you implying?" Rebekah asked, sitting next to Elijah who until now had looked out of the window but now turned to them. Both Elijah and Kol gave her the same meaningful look.

"You think Nik outed her as a…" she looked to Briony, who was still asleep. "You mean he did that to get back to her?" she asked again. "No, he wouldn't do that!"

"Really?" Kol snarled. "He has done worse to people who did less to him."

"It's just," Rebekah tried again, "why would he do that? He wanted to pull her to his side, didn't he?"

"I don't think he cared much about that anymore when he left," Kol replied.

"I thought about that too actually," Elijah said.

Kol raised an eyebrow.

"When he left right after Briony's spell against him," Elijah continued, "without any sign of retaliation or revenge, I thought he might consider giving it a second attempt to convince her to come with us. At a later point, when he made a new plan. Why else would he not even try to attack her? It seemed so unusual for him."

"And you still think that?" Kol asked skeptically.

"After tonight? Not really."


	6. Weird Sister Fantasy

_**Present Day**_

The events of the afternoon still flew around in Rebekah's head. She had no idea what to do with Freya and her tale. Before they could ask her anything else she had already left the bar. Rebekah had been too baffled to do anything about it, and it was obvious the others had felt the same. What do you do with someone who claims to be a relative? Kill them? It felt so odd. Elijah and Marcel kept arguing about any solutions, how to find out how she got Mikaelson blood in her but they hadn't gotten any smarter than before. Nik was sure it was joke, or even a well-planned diversion from something bigger. But he wasn't there when Rebekah had seen Freya for the first time. That didn't look like someone who was only a distraction for someone else. However, they could agree on one thing: Freya couldn't possibly tell the truth.

In the meantime they had returned to the mansion at the edge of the city. It might be have been that she got adjusted to the _new_ New Orleans by now but unlike the townhouse Rebekah actually looked forward to returning to the mansion. Theoretically Marcel was free to use it whenever and however he liked, but when they arrived it became clear he hadn't been there in years. In fact Rebekah still recognized most of the now anachronistic furniture and fading wall paint from the last time she had been there.

Elijah and Nik immediately decided to do more research on Freya. Rebekah couldn't see how they were supposed to be more successful in that task than Marcel and Davina, but they didn't listen to her. Rebekah only rolled their eyes as they took off for town again before they even set foot in their house.

As she settled in, her mind kept sliding back to the blood spells. Hard core witchcraft, Marcel said. It was clear that Davina wasn't knowledgeable enough to figure out anything in regards to that. They needed a better witch. Rebekah looked up to the ceiling. She had a feeling on where they could find one. She rushed up the stairs, into the attic and looked around in the dusty dark room, searching. Then she saw the three huge wooden boxes in the corner that she herself put there 90 years earlier. Back then she had told everyone it was only her stuff, but actually it wasn't. She was pleased to see that apparently nobody had ever checked what's inside. Else the boxes would have been long gone. One by one she lifted them and carried them down into her old room. She opened one of the boxes and saw the big piles of notes and booklets that were full of Briony's handwriting. She remembered that Briony insisted on documenting every spell she did, every bit of magic that occurred. Back then Rebekah had always thought that was excessive, especially since she thought that none of them would ever leave or lose that kind of knowledge, but now it dawned on her that Briony had been warier than her in that aspect. After opening the first booklet and skimming the first pages, facing the vast amount of information that they contained, she realized she needed help to get through this.

"I had no idea you kept all of this," Marcel said in awe as Rebekah showed him and Davina her room where she stationed the boxes with Briony's notes.

"No one did," Rebekah replied. Probably the only reason why it was still here, she thought again.

They split up and took a box each and rummaged through the caskets.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Davina asked, as Marcel already skimmed through the things in his box and smiled, obviously only interested in the memorabilia.

"Anything that could give us a clue of how Freya could do a blood spell with Mikaelson blood. Briony wrote down almost every spell she ever did so it might take a while to find anything. But if anyone ever knew about how to do advanced blood spells it's her," Rebekah replied. With her little speech Marcel began to pay attention as well.

"What happened to her?" Davina asked, as she slowly lifted the first notebook from her box.

Rebekah and Marcel exchanged looks.

Where to begin?

"Short version?" Marcel said. "She pissed off Nik. Big time."

It was difficult to work with a system with the many loose sheets of paper and notebooks that seemed completely disjointed. Luckily, Briony's handwriting had been neat and she kept her notes in order, so they managed to get through the many single sheets of paper quickly. It didn't take long and Rebekah's room was plastered with booklet and papers. Without them noticing the time passed by, each of them delved into their box. After several hours they were only half-way through, and Rebekah began to lose hope. This seemed to be an endless task and they hadn't gotten any further in their search.

"This might be something," Davina eventually said. "She writes about spells she did on Original vampires."

After a few seconds she added excitedly: "Blood spells!"

The others stopped their own work and looked at Davina with anticipation. She waved them down and kept reading. When she was done she said without looking up: "She writes her blood spells with Original blood don't work all the time. Only under particular circumstances. She writes that she stole Original's blood a few times and that didn't work. But when she was offered the blood from the vein, by free will, the spell always turned out the way she wanted."

Marcel turned to Rebekah with a smirk: "Did you know she did tests on you guys?"

Rebekah shook her head. "Doesn't surprise me to be honest."

"Who would offer blood to her though?"

"Are you serious? Kol, obviously. God knows what else these two were into."

"But do you understand what this means?" Davina interrupted them, agitated. "Freya could only have done a blood spell to connect her blood to yours if any of you offered it to her first. Did you, Rebekah?"

"I haven't offered anyone blood in decades, centuries even, unless they were turned into vampires afterwards," Rebekah said. And she would remember if she gave it to Freya at one point.

"What about your brothers?" Davina asked.

Rebekah wasn't sure, but highly doubted that either Elijah or Nik would offer blood to anyone lightly, especially anyone they didn't know.

Her assumption was confirmed when her brothers returned from town. Neither Elijah nor Nik had offered anyone blood they weren't sure had turned into a vampire later. Not only that, but neither Elijah nor Nik had ever seen Freya before.

"And did you find out anything that we didn't already know while you were in town?" Rebekah asked artificially.

"Actually Rebekah," Nik said with a smirk, "we did."

"Well, we found out something about where she's from. It might be useful," Elijah added.

The others looked at them expectantly.

"We went to her apartment," Nik said.

"Yeah, we already know where that is," Marcel interrupted him.

"We went to her apartment," Nik began again, staring at Marcel to shut him up, "and we had a chat with her landlord. She's from Denmark, apparently. Her landlord told us that this is where she sent her application from before she moved in. The place is called Sjaellands Odde, a rural area. She's not married and doesn't have any children. He also told us that she lived there in a rather stately home, all by herself. He knows this because he saw a photograph in her kitchen."

"How does he…" Rebekah slowly put it together.

"Her landlord's behaviour is very stalker-y, yes," Nik replied.

"This is terrible," Davina added, aghast.

"I'm not sure if we should feel sorry for Freya in that regard yet, but nobody has to worry about that landlord anymore. We figured nobody would miss him much if we get rid of him. At least he can't tell anyone what he told us when he's dead," Elijah replied.

However, this didn't help them any further in the question what Freya possibly did with Original blood. Davina reassured them again that they couldn't have been tricked into giving someone blood. Someone would have to willingly give it to her in order to work.

"What else could it be then?" Nik asked, his eyes hovering over the notes in the boxes in Rebekah's room.

"Depends," Davina replied, still holding Briony's notes on blood spells in her hands.

"Depends on what?" Nik asked.

"On how much credit you give to your witch friend. If what she writes is true, there is really no way around it. Freya couldn't have done a blood spell that worked, which leaves only one option: she must be naturally related to you."

Rebekah exchanged looks with Elijah. And she saw in his face that he thought the same as she did. Briony would never make a mistake like this.

"Could there be even the slightest possibility" Elijah said slowly, "that Freya is telling the truth?"

 _ **1705 London**_

In the following days Kol had been busy acclimatising Briony to their London home. They were still unsure if she had any intention to stay with them but so far she hadn't protested to anything he suggested. Rebekah was fascinated by his interest in Briony and her well-being. She had never seen him so invested in a human being, and for that alone she was for all for keeping the girl in the house.

They hadn't heard anything from Nik yet. Rebekah was torn about if that was a good sign or not. She dreaded the moment he would turn up back home and see that they brought the witch here. If it was actually him trying to kill her, and he found out that they saved her instead, even took her in, there would be more than one person with a stake in their hearts.

Or maybe he didn't want to kill her at all.

She expressed her doubts to Elijah.

"Funny how she ended up here after all, isn't it?" Rebekah said as she heard Kol rummaging in the kitchen. She doubted he knew what he was doing there.

"You think?" Elijah asked.

Slowly Rebekah formed the rest of her thoughts.

She asked: "Do you think Nik planned all of this? Do you think he knew she'd end up here?"

"Yup," Elijah answered shortly. Then he added with affirmation: "He knew he'd only get her to stay with us if it was her choice. I think he knew exactly that Kol would figure out she was in danger and would go to her and bring her to London. We did exactly what he wanted."

Rebekah sighed. "I hate when he does that."

"Yup."

Rebekah opened the kitchen door and found Kol hovering over a greasy and weirdly smoking pan. Until a few days ago the kitchen had always been the cleanest room in house, a bit dusty maybe, because it was the room they used the least. Now it looked like a hoard a buffalos just went through. Kol seemed eager to cook, but apparently hadn't taken on the habit of cleaning up afterwards.

"What on earth is that supposed to be?" she asked him, as she inspected the brown mass that was swimming in the pan.

"Used to be eggs," Kol replied indifferently. "I don't think they're supposed to look like this."

"Depends. Do you wanna kill her with that?" Rebekah said with a laugh.

Kol didn't bother to look up. "Funny."

He took the pan off the fire and threw it into the wash basin, on top of the rest of the dirty kitchen utensils. Then he turned to the basket of the food he bought.

"Apples it is then. Can't do much wrong there."

"She's better then?" Rebekah eventually asked. She actually didn't have any indication that Briony was better, but somehow, by articulating her words like this, she hoped they might come true. Kol seemed took a similar approach.

"I guess so," he said. "Not worse, definitely."

After a pause, the smile in his face faded a little.

"I don't know what to do about the crying. It's kinda hard if you can't say anything she understands."

Rebekah understood. But she didn't know what to say.

Kol added: "You're a girl, Rebekah. What would cheer you up?"

"I don't know. It probably depends on what the problem is."

"Well, how about some jerk burned down your home and turned everyone you know against you? But for some reason you agreed to go with the jerk's family to London? A fact you're probably start regretting at some point?"

Rebekah gave a small laugh. "Well, I can relate to the jerk part, because we've been living with him for several centuries."

"Do you want me to try to talk to her?" she asked. She wasn't sure where that sudden idea came from. Between Kol, Elijah and herself she felt like she knew her the least, only meeting her the first time after she got exposed.

"Would you?" Kol seemed relieved. "That'd be great!"

Rebekah smiled weakly. She doubted she could make a big difference. But perhaps that kind of objective distance she still had helped. Kol nodded eagerly and she realized he expected her to have that talk right that moment. With a sigh she turned around and moved back to the door.

Before she left for upstairs she said: "I doubt she's regretting it, Kol."

She knocked at Briony's bedroom door and slowly opened it. Briony sat at on the window seat and absently looked outside. Since she arrived she hadn't made any indication to leave the room and they didn't see any reason why they should force her. When Rebekah hesitantly stepped in Briony looked up to her. Her eyes were red, but she wasn't crying. She looked miserable though. Rebekah's presence didn't seem to distress her, so Rebekah took a few steps closer.

"So, how are you doing?" Rebekah asked.

Briony was wearing one of her dresses. Rebekah had given it to her when they had arrived, since Briony's dress had been partially burned.

"The dress fits," she continued, "that's great."

Awkwardly she moved a bit closer, while Briony observed her. She understood now what Kol meant. How can you cheer someone up if you can't even tell if they understand you?

Eventually she decided to sit down next to Briony on the window seat. Outside it was raining. Rebekah thought about mentioning it, but then changed her mind. No, she wasn't going to talk about mundane things like the weather, when that poor girl just lost her whole existence. Unsure, she turned around and looked at the table on the other side of the room. There were some books on it and some plates from the kitchen. Some of them had leftovers on it.

"Kol is feeding you alright. He's trying but I'm afraid cooking is not one of his talents. Not that I would be better at it, but it's pretty funny to watch him," she said with a small laugh.

Briony smiled too.

"I'm sorry for you though. I hope at least some stuff he brings you up is somewhat edible."

After a moment of silence, Rebekah said: "Look, I know the circumstances of why you are here aren't great, and they don't really speak in our favour either. But we can be nice people too. Maybe you being here, that's what's supposed to happen. Maybe you should live with us. There are people who want to do you harm, and from what I gather you're pretty capable of defending yourself. I am usually too. But you know, it's still nice sometimes to have someone on your side. Most of the time I could rip my brothers' heads off, but then I'm still glad I have them. To have someone to talk to, someone who understands. Because there is literally no one else in the world who can. We can't undo what happened in that village, but we can offer refuge." She took Briony's had in her own. "You could be part of our family. We could be friends, like sisters."

Rebekah was surprised by her own words, but as she spoke them realized she wanted them to be true. This situation was the harsh reminder of her constant state. As the only sister in the family she occasionally had felt jealous of the brotherly bond between her brothers. Something about her being the sister made it different, which made her feel like an outcast. None of the friends she had had in her life ever could make that up, as they never felt quite equal to her. Briony's power and her somewhat prolonged life span made her more equal to her than anyone else.

Briony looked at her intently. It was hard to tell of how much she understood by now, but Rebekah thought that, as Kol would have said, she got the gist of it. She had a weak smile on her face. Then, with a sigh, she slowly put her second hand on Rebekah's. In that moment, Rebekah decided that she wanted to like her and befriend her, and she would help Kol to convince her to stay with any means possible.

Elijah looked back and forth between Rebekah and Kol.

"You're serious about this?"

"Dead serious," Kol replied.

Elijah rolled his eyes. "I don't mind her staying here for a while. I guess that's only fair after what we did to her. But you two already decided that she's part of the family now? How is that in any way reasonable? She doesn't even speak our language. Does she even know what you signed her up for?"

"Actually, I do," Kol said genuinely.

"She wants to stay, Elijah. And we want her to stay, too," Rebekah said firmly.

"I mean I get that Kol wants her to stay, because he developed a crush on her." Elijah replied. "But you, Rebekah, don't even know her. You're projecting this weird sister fantasy on her, when you know literally nothing about her."

"It's not a weird sister fantasy. And don't pretend that you never wanted more family members. I remember you trying to add new people all the time. Don't you?" Rebekah crossed her arms.

Elijah looked at her angrily. "Of course. And look how that turned out. How about we learn from our mistakes for once?"

Rebekah was about to retort, when Kol interrupted: "Let's take a vote. Seems fair, doesn't it? Who is in favour of Briony staying, and us treating her as family?"

Immediately Rebekah and he raised hands.

Elijah rolled his eyes again. "I'm not going to vote against her. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't rush into anything."

"Good, then that's settled." Kol decided, ignoring Elijah.

Elijah sighed. "Maybe let's ask her again when she has learnt our language. If nobody has driven her off by then."


	7. Weird Sister Fantasy II

_**Present Day**_

Rebekah slowly neared the down-washed building in which Freya was supposed to live. By now they had somewhat accepted that Freya must have told the truth, but they still wanted to know the whole story before they could fully believe her. She had arduously convinced Elijah and Nik that she should go and talk to Freya alone. Rebekah figured she had the best chance at getting her to talk by being nice to her and she thought about what she could say to her. Before she reached the building, the door opened and a woman came outside. She looked scrawny but physically fit, and she had a mean look on her face. Rebekah could tell that she was expecting her.

"I don't think so," said the scrawny woman.

Rebekah raised an eyebrow and looked at her tauntingly. "If I go inside is not up to you, love."

"I won't let you through," the woman said firmly.

"Again, you won't be able to stop me. But, please, amuse me." Rebekah said with a snort.

The witch growled at her and raised her right hand. Out of curiosity, Rebekah didn't counteract. Suddenly she felt a burning sensation on her chest, but it was not enough to put her on fire.

"Prickling," Rebekah said unimpressed. Was that the best she could do? The people in this town really must have forgotten who she and her brothers were.

After several more weak curses against her, Rebekah eventually said: "Okay, this has gone on long enough."

But before she could strike out, she heard a voice from the house.

"Stop." Freya marched out the front door. She turned to the witch: "It's alright." The witch nodded, and with a menacing side-eye she moved out of Rebekah's way.

With crossed arms Freya turned back to Rebekah. "What do you want?" she asked briskly.

"Talk," Rebekah replied, somewhat flustered. It was hard to sound softly right after her interaction with the other witch.

Freya studied her face, and then answered shortly: "Then talk."

"Maybe inside?" replied Rebekah. "And without that one around?" She nodded towards the witch, who still hovered behind Freya's shoulder.

Freya hesitated. "Fine," she eventually said, "follow me."

She led her inside the house. They walked up an old, creaky staircase that needed reparation, but besides that, the building looked very clean. Someone must have looked after it rather properly. On the second flight of stairs they walked across two other doors, until they stopped at the last one of the corridor. Freya unlocked it and stepped inside. Then she turned around.

"Good, we're inside," she said.

Rebekah was startled. Freya must have read expression and added with a sneer: "If you thought I invite you in my apartment, then you're terribly mistaken."

Rebekah would have preferred a more private space, but then she didn't feel in the place to argue. What was it that made her want Freya to like her so much?

"Alright," she said, slightly tip-toeing. "So, after some research we came to the conclusion that you might have said the truth after all."

"You mean after you broke into my apartment and murdered my landlord?" Freya replied scornfully.

Rebekah ignored her. "Is it really true?" she asked again.

"Did you forget the second part where I said I didn't want to see any of you?" Freya asked her.

"No," Rebekah replied. "But if it is true we have the right to know."

"The right?" Freya spat. "Why should you have the right to know?"

Although Rebekah strongly wanted Freya to like her, she began to lose her patience. "Look, either we figure this out right now and we'll get out of your hair, or you don't cooperate and we'll figure it out ourselves which means we'll pester you for a much longer time, because as you should know we got lots of time, and more people will die that want to stop us from doing so." She didn't plan on sounding so threatening, but she saw that Freya understood it as such.

Freya gritted her teeth. "Fine," she said shortly. After a short pause she added, slightly less agitated: "Yes, it's true. It's really true."

"Can you prove it?" Rebekah asked.

"Your parents' names are Esther and Mikael. All in all, you were six children when you were still humans. Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Rebekah, Kol and Henrik. Well, seven if you count me. You also have an aunt named Dahlia."

Rebekah took a step back. There were only few people in the world who knew her parents' names, but besides her brothers, Marcel and herself there was nobody who knew about Henrik. They never talked about him. Why would they? It was such a long time ago. She didn't know what to reply.

"From your reaction I say that's correct?" Freya said.

Rebekah nodded. "I don't know about the aunt you mentioned, but the rest, yes. Correct."

"Ah," Freya nodded, "that explains why you don't know about me. She had a lot to do with my… outsider state."

"How?" Rebekah asked.

"She took me when I was little. Being a witch, a greedy witch that is, she was interested in my magical powers and saw my potential. I guess the rest of you would have been the same if you weren't turned into vampires." She sighed and gave Rebekah a 'so much lost potential'-look. Rebekah was offended, but at the same time, that was something she had often been wondering about herself.

"Anyway," Freya said after she shook off some far away thoughts, "I'll prove once and for all that I'm… related to you."

"Yes?" Rebekah asked eagerly.

"Do you know about the enclosed hands spell?"

Rebekah nodded. She had never been involved in the spell herself, but she had seen others perform it. Basically, one had to join and cross hands, the witch did some chanting jig and if one was from the same family the hands would recognize each other. It was impossible to fake it. Davina had already suggested it the first time they had talked about Freya, but the difficulty of it was that both participants had to be willing to cross hands. Until now Rebekah didn't believe Freya would agree to it.

They joined and crossed hands. It didn't take long and Rebekah felt a cool and soft flowing sensation in her lower arms. She couldn't tell which part of it told her, but suddenly she knew. Yes, they were definitely related.

Rebekah smiled. "It is really true."

"Yes," Freya said.

Rebekah wanted to take a step closer, but realized she already stood at the threshold. "But that's wonderful!"

"What is wonderful about that?"

"I mean it's wonderful that you found us, isn't it? You must have felt like an outsider, all these years. And don't be mistaken by my brothers' or my nature, we can be really nice people. Especially with family. Family always comes first. And you're one of us."

"You can't be serious," Freya crossed her arms.

"Yes, of course," Rebekah said, "don't be afraid of what we are. You definitely don't have to fear us anymore, now that we're related! I mean you must have felt lonely without knowing you have a family, didn't you? My brothers can get on my nerves sometimes but it's great to have them, you know. And the two of us, we could be sisters!"

Freya studied her for a moment. Then she replied drily: "In what world would I want to be part of your family? In what world would I want to be your sister?"

Rebekah cleared her dry throat. "You don't understan-"

But Freya interrupted her. "What do I not understand? That you and your brothers are selfish bastards? Even if you, for some inexplicable reason, have decided that you want to make me one of you, which again is literally the last thing I want, that doesn't un-do all the horrible things you have done. You're delusional if you think I want to be part of this."

Rebekah was struggling to make full sentences: "The things we've done… we did to surv-"

"No," Freya interrupted her again, "you didn't do these things to survive. You did them because you enjoyed them. And if you need to murder people to survive, you might not deserve to live at all."

"You're putting this in a very unfair context," Rebekah said defensively.

"That's what you tell yourself, but it isn't. You killed people, that's fact. You killed my landlord, that's a fact!"

"Who cares about that guy?! He was a creep!" Rebekah replied angrily. She was close to tears.

"And that's why he had to die?!" Freya shouted back. "And what about my friend Nancy?!"

"Who?" Rebekah asked confused.

"She has disappeared about the same time my landlord died. She was also one of the only people who knew where I lived. Curious, isn't it?" Freya said derisively.

Elijah and Nik didn't tell her about a friend that they had interrogated, but the friend would fit into their methods. Rebekah didn't know what she could say to that.

"That leaves you speechless, you say? And why exactly should I wanna be your sister when not even you can find a good argument for that?" Freya asked.

Rebekah pressed her lips together.

"I think we're done here. I repeat, I never wanna see any of you again. I mean it." Freya eventually said. Then she smashed the door in Rebekah's face.

Rebekah stared at the wooden door a few inches before her eyes. She pressed her tears down, but she already knew that it was no use. She still thought about what else she could say or do, but nothing came to mind. After a minute of staring, she eventually moved back and slowly turned to the stairway. Anger rose in her. How could she give up now?

She pushed the front door of the house open and stepped outside into the bright daylight. It felt like the brightness was mocking her.

"Talk went well?" sneered someone behind her. She turned around and saw the witch from before, smugly leaning towards the house wall.

Rebekah rested her eyes on the witch's mocking face.

Then she said: "You shouldn't have said that."

Before the witch could react, Rebekah already grabbed her by the hair and bit into her neck. The woman tried to scream, but Rebekah had already snapped her head. After a few moments she let go of the body and it fell lifeless onto the hard ground. Rebekah observed the picture she just created. A small pool of blood began to fill around the woman's head. The woman didn't look smug anymore. It was true, it felt good. She enjoyed this. She wiped off the remaining tears from her cheeks and the blood from her mouth and left. 

_**1705 London, 5 months later**_

"A truce spell?" Briony asked, uninterested.

"I don't mean an actual truce spell," Kol replied impatiently. "I mean a spell as an offer of truce."

"For Nik?" she asked.

He knew that she understood exactly what he meant, but pretended not to. It wasn't hard to guess why. She didn't want to do help him.

Five months had passed since Briony arrived at their London house, and after some rough days in the beginning, she had recovered pretty quickly. Kol was surprised how smoothly she had returned to the happy Briony he had known from before the fire. Luckily she caught up quickly with their language, which made their communication much easier. By now Kol had learnt that Briony had two adult children that both had lived in a nearby village. However, she hadn't seen them in the last 10 years. Her children, who didn't have any magic themselves - a fact she kept pressing - knew about her witchcraft, but nobody else did, so she didn't want them to be attached to her. She used to have a husband but he had long died. Kol had also learnt that Briony hadn't been the only witch that got uncovered that day. Two other women had been accused of witchcraft as well and burned at the stake. He had the impression that this was the main reason why Briony had been so upset when she arrived. Not losing her home or being outed, but that other people were killed instead of her. One of the woman had not been a witch at all, but Briony kept saying that didn't make a difference to her, innocent or not.

Somehow Kol didn't dare to ask about Nik or if she had seen him in the village. She hadn't come up with the topic herself. Three months had passed with her slowly adapting to their lifestyle until Nik suddenly had come home. Kol thought he had seemed genuinely surprised to see Briony with them and he could sense some anger, but Nik hadn't said anything when he arrived. Kol, Elijah and Rebekah weren't sure what to do with him. He acted very reserved around Briony, but then he hadn't shown any intention of getting rid of her either. Elijah's guess was that Nik still was convincing himself that he needed Briony and therefore acted very indifferently around her. Neither of them had asked him about his involvement in the village, and similar to Briony he didn't bring it up himself.

They had lived somewhat quietly for another two months without any bigger mishaps. However, everyone in the house had felt the increasing level of hostility, Briony becoming cockier, teasing Nik, testing the boundaries on how far she could go to piss him off. Kol couldn't blame her for that, she was too much like him in that matter, and pissing off Nik had always been a favourite past time of his. But unlike him, she was mortal, and Kol figured it was only a matter of time until Nik would find a way to get rid off her if that was what he wanted. It thus seemed only reasonable to reconcile the two. From the two, Nik was definitely the less placable, therefore Kol tried to convince Briony to do the first step with an offer to help him.

"Why should I help him? It's not like he has done anything nice for me." Briony said indifferently, as she moved around lazily on the sofa.

"To be fair, the last time he was nice to you, you threw him across a meadow," Kol replied, standing next to her.

Briony laughed at that prospect. "Yes, what a great start it was for our blossoming hostile kinship."

Kol only tried weakly to hide his own laugh. He pulled her up from the sofa to bring her up to his level.

"Be that as it may," he continued, while caressing her neck, "it might be better for the greater good in this house if there was some common trust between the two of you."

Briony hesitantly tried to move away but then changed her mind. "You're sugarcoating me."

"Is it working?" Kol asked with a grin.

She struggled for words and then shook her head. "Even if I saw an advantage in that, why does it have to be me and not him?"

Kol let go of her again. "Trust me, I know him. He's skeptical by nature. Unless you do the first step he will never trust you."

Briony hesitated and studied his face.

"Please, Briony," Kol said and slowly pulled her back close. "If not for him, do it for me or the well-being of everyone else in this house. Trust me, it will be much nicer here for everyone if he's not moping around all the time."

"Please, Briony," he said again. "Please, please, please," he whispered in her ear. "You really want me to beg, don't you?" he added with a small laugh.

"You can try," she replied.

"Please, dearest Briony," he said again as he kissed her neck. "It will be much nicer in the house when you do it." He kissed her again. "When you've done it we can do more fun things later."

Briony gave a small laugh: "Okay, fine. I'll talk to him."

"Great!" Kol replied.

Before he could say more she cut him off. "I won't help him with any of his petty murders though. He can do his dirty work himself."

"Yes, whatever, that's fine. He'll probably ask for some protection charm. He's been so paranoid lately."

"Alright," Briony replied, unwillingly but eventually breaking away from his arms.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Kol asked before she could leave.

"I don't need a chaperone for this," Briony replied with a smile.

"Yeah, that's not what I'm worried about."

"Don't worry, you'll hear it when either of us is getting killed."

Kol saw the door closing and began pacing his room. He had no idea how this was going to turn out. In his mind it seemed like a good plan. Theoretically, he believed, Nik should give in and accept the truce. And Briony seemed genuine when she said she'd offer the help. But now he began to consider all the possibilities how this scenario could go wrong. Only one wrong word from either of them and the situation could escalate. The house was surprisingly quiet, and he wasn't sure if that was a good sign.

Half an hour later Briony reappeared in Kol's room. She looked calm.

"And?" Kol asked, who was unsure if he could rely on the looks here.

"It went allright, I think," Briony replied, as she closed the door behind her. She looked relieved.

"What happened?" Kol asked.

"I said what you told me, the whole thing about common trust and all, and then said I'd offer to do one spell for him. At first he seemed skeptical of my offer, but when he saw that I meant it, he accepted it. I did a spell for him and he seemed somewhat grateful. At one point he even smiled. Then we stood there awkwardly, and when I figured I did enough to establish this friendship you wanted, I left and now I'm back here."

Kol was relieved. It seemed to have gone even better than he had hoped.

"What spell did he want?" he asked.

"A location spell." Briony said as she slowly came closer, "I was surprised, I didn't expect anything so simple. It was a location spell for a girl. Who would have thought? I didn't expect him to be the kind of guy to running after a girl like this. But good for him, I guess. That makes him almost endurable. Maybe we can be friends after all."

"A girl?" Kol asked doubtfully. He was surprised. It seemed unusual for Nik indeed. "What was her name?"

"Katherine."

"Oh." Now that made more sense. Kol tried to look as plain as possible.

"What?" Briony raised an eyebrow. He could tell she was already suspicious.

"Nothing," Kol lied.

"You're not good at hiding things, Kol," Briony took a step closer.

"So, Katherine…" Kol stalled, but he realized he couldn't get around this. "She's not exactly his girlfriend, or anything in that direction."

Then he told her the whole story about who Katherine was and what she did in order to save herself from Nik.

Briony wrestled to keep her temper down. "So, when he's looking for her still… that means he wants to…" She didn't finish her sentence.

"Yup," Kol said. "You just helped him with one of his petty murders."


	8. Trust

_**Present Day**_

 _Knock. Knock._

"Go away," Rebekah muffled in her pillow.

She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Painfully she tried to forget what happened the day before but at the same time it seemed this was the only thing her brain could think of. The fight, the words, the anger, the blood. The scenes kept replaying in her head, and every time they felt crueller. She tried so hard to be welcoming, to show that she had a heart, but what was it all for? Freya would never accept her as a person. Rebekah tried to think of any scenarios how they could turn out to be friends, sisters, but the longer she thought about it the clearer became the reality that it wasn't going to happen. Was Freya right?

Rebekah's body trembled. Being the thing that she is, does she even deserve to have friends? Was she even worth to be alive? But why then was even able to feel those things?

Someone knocked at the door again. Rebekah knew her brothers meant well but nothing they could say could change how she felt. They weren't able to understand her strong desire for a sister bond and what lied beneath that.

"Rebekah?" She heard Nik stepping inside.

"I said go away," she replied meekly without looking up.

"Don't let this woman get so close to you. Who cares what she thinks?"

"I do," she replied, staring angrily at the wall.

The same had already been Nik's comment after she had told him and Elijah what had happened just after her encounter with Freya. They hadn't been surprised, but Rebekah thought she had also seen some disappointment in their eyes that it hadn't ended differently. Then she had mostly been angry and frustrated, but soon she realized that there was more than frustration. Freya had hit her on a deep level.

Nik walked around her bed until he was in her view, pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down. Rebekah didn't resist her blocked view and simply stared at him.

He hesitated. Then he simply said: "You wanted her to like you."

"Is that so wrong?"

"No," Nik replied softly. "That's what you usually do. I just don't see what you see in her. We don't know her at all."

"She's our sister."

"So?"

"You're the one always preaching about the importance of family."

"That's not the same. Just because she shares our blood doesn't make her our family," Nik replied. Then he added: "You and Elijah are my family."

"I hope you do care about Marcel to some extent," Rebekah added drily.

Nik smiled. "Yeah, of course, I do."

Rebekah sat straight up and looked at her brother.

"Do you really not care about Freya? At all?"

He shook his shoulders. "I mean, the situation had occupied my thoughts. It is a very odd feeling to know that she exists, but to like her, even to love her, just because - No. I might be different if she weren't so eager to push us away. But like this, no, I don't care about her."

Rebekah studied his face. It was so typical for Nik. Against the benefit of the doubt, he always chose to see the worst in people, never trusting anyone unless they have proven themselves. She couldn't understand how he ever made friends like this. But then, it was in situations like this one where she envied him for not being so emotional. If only she could wave down her hurt feelings the way he could.

"What are we gonna do now?" Rebekah asked with a sigh.

"Not sure," Nik said, honestly.

After a pause he said with determination: "But I'll tell you what we won't do. We won't run after her in a feeble attempt to win her over. If she doesn't want to know us, that's her loss. Just because she might be related… so what. Good riddance, I say."

Rebekah turned away and stared at the boxes from the attic that still stood in her room. Only a few days ago she had been so excited of the prospect of having a sister. Was it that easy to let go?

When she didn't reply, Nik sat down next to her, onto the bed and shook her amicably into a hug.

"Rebekah," he said. "Why are you even complaining when having the two best brothers in the world?"

She rolled her eyes and gave a small attempt escaping, but Nik held her back with a grin.

"We can do… more girly things. I don't know what that entails, because I'm convinced that literally everything that you're hoping to do with a sister, you can also do with me and Elijah. Brothers are better anyway!"

Against her will, she had to laugh as well.

"Fine," she eventually said. "I'll try to get over it."

"Then repeat after me: Brothers are better than sisters."

"No, definitely not!" she said with a laugh, trying to get rid of his grip.

"Say it!"

"This is moronic!" she said, giving up and rolling her eyes. "Brothers are better than sisters."

After Nik let go of her, she added with a sigh: "I'm already looking forward to when we're leaving this place again."

"Well, there's nothing that's holding us back anymore, isn't it? We can go wherever you like! Anywhere. You liked Greece, didn't you?"

Rebekah laughed. "No, I didn't. You were the one who liked Greece. But nice try."

"Fine, wherever you wanna go. I won't make any suggestions."

Where did she want to go? Usually she went where the flow took her. Either following one of her brothers, a new friend, a great plan: there had always been a reason to go to a specific place that eased her decision. But right now? There was no reason to stay and nothing else to pull her somewhere else. This state of not knowing felt unusually soothing. It felt like freedom.

"Maybe Elijah has an idea!" she said brightly as she saw him coming through the door.

"Yes, Elijah, bright brother, where do you wanna go?" Nik added with a laugh.

"What is happening now?" Elijah said, confused but smiling.

"Since there's nothing holding us back here in New Orleans, since no one's left here that we care about-" he gave Rebekah a nudge.

"Exactly. Nobody except Marcel, you mean," she interrupted him.

"Nobody except Marcel, I mean, we decided to leave this rotten place of complacent magic and bad memories and go to a new place. So what's it gonna be, Elijah? It's either this, or burning the town to the ground."

Elijah's smile slowly vanished.

"I'm sorry to break your good spirits in the prospect of committing arson, but I'm afraid that's not an option."

As the others looked at him confused, he walked into the room and sat down next to them.

"I take it you decided that you don't care about Freya, even though she's the only blood relative we have ever encountered in our lives."

"Not that I have a problem with that part," he held up his hands, as the others were about to protest. "But there exactly lies the problem."

"She's a blood relative," he continued, "which means she has our blood in her veins."

When he saw they still haven't caught on, he said: "This means she can go do blood spells with her own blood that could affect us. And there's nothing we can do about it. She has an immense power over us."

Rebekah and Nik stared at him in disbelief.

Slowly Rebekah realized what this meant. Quietly she said: "But she must have known about the connection for centuries. And she never used it against us. I don't think she'd use it now."

Before Elijah could reply, Nik said with a snort: "Yeah, right, Rebekah. As if we're gonna trust her now."

Elijah interrupted: "Even if she, for some reason, was trust-worthy doesn't mean we could let her walk around with that kind of leverage over us. If anyone else figures it out…"

Before he could continue, Rebekah interrupted again: "We're not gonna kill her!"

"What then?" Nik said, agitated.

"You're not gonna like it," Elijah said hesitantly, "but I say we have to convince her that she's part of our family, that it's more profitable to be on our side."

"That's impossible," Rebekah said in disbelief.

"I'm with Rebekah there," Nik said shortly.

Then he added: "And we don't have the time for you to be all charming around her until she trusts us enough. By then the whole town will know about it."

"Well, I was thinking more of a short-term solution until we have time for being charming," Elijah said drily.

"What?"

"Capture her."

"How is that helping making her trust us?" Nik asked.

"It won't. But we'll have the security that she can't tell anyone else about her connection. After that we can figure out how, or if, we can make her trust-worthy."

"What if we can't?"

"We'll have to kill her."

* * *

 _ **1706, Leiden, Dutch Republic**_

Briony looked over the crowd in the inn. The loud chatter and the music was drumming into her ears and a smell of sweat and mead crept up her nostrils. In one corner sat a couple on slightly elevated chairs. The inn must have been holding a wedding. It was hard to find one single person in this mess, but at least Briony was able to blend in like this.

She had a vague description of the woman she was looking for. Brown hair, dark eyes. Kol had described her to Briony once, when he had told her Katherine's story. He didn't want to admit to it but Briony was sure he thought she was pretty. Besides, Briony had been observing more than once that it was usually the pretty girls that were used for sacrifices.

It didn't take long and Briony spotted her in the crowd. A lean figure with dark wavy hair and a radiant smile. Yes, she definitely fit into the sacrifice category of girls. However, it wasn't just the looks that gave Katherine away. There was something in her aura that smelled like death, like vampire. Briony never was opposed to the smell, but in a room full of living people you could easily tell them apart from the rest. Briony shortly contested if Katherine was the person she would have helped in any other given situation, a situation where she didn't act out of spite, but there they were and there was no turning back.

Katherine was talking to two men. They were laughing at her story, obviously trying to impress her, one of them leaning very close to her when he spoke. Briony observed them for a while and for a second, she thought Katherine looked directly at her, but then her view got blocked by a group of dancers. Quickly Briony took some steps forward in order to pass them. But it was already too late. A few seconds later Katherine was gone.

Laboriously, Briony made her way through the crowd, to the place where Katherine had been standing. The two men were now talking to each other. It seemed Katherine's absence had already been forgotten.

Briony left them and turned around and searched the room again. No vampire in sight. She had a funny feeling in her stomach. It was unlikely that Katherine had just disappeared, by coincidence. She moved further towards the end of the hall, and made her way to the back door. She stepped into the long, dimly lit hall that she presumed led to the kitchen. It was empty.

She hesitated. Behind her she could still hear the loud party. The longer she waited the further Katherine could have gone. Had she already lost her?

Suddenly she heard the door snapping close behind her. Before she could turn around, she felt herself pushed against the wall and found herself face to face with the brown haired, brown eyed woman she had been looking for.

Katherine's eyes were burning into hers as she felt her elbow was pressed against her own collar bone.

Before Briony managed to open her mouth, Katherine already said: "You're following me." And with more determination she demanded: "Why?"

Briony saw danger flicker in Katherine's eyes that were only inches in front of her own. It took all of her will power to not push her away with a simple force spell, but then she figured a fight would not be the right approach to the talk she wanted to have.

Calmly but clearly she replied: "Niklaus is looking for you. He's here. You need to leave. Right now."

As she heard that name Katherine let go of Briony and took a step back. There was skepticism in her eyes, but Briony saw the fear that slowly took over. Katherine hesitated. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, to ask her how she knew or who she was, but then, to Briony complete surprise, she disappeared in a blink of an eye. Briony only heard the door slamming, and she was alone again.

She didn't expect Katherine to come back.

With rushed steps, Briony hurried back to the apartment where she and the siblings were staying. Quietly she opened the front door, and tried to step in as soundlessly as possible. She knew that was actually completely useless in case anyone was home and they would hear her with their vampire senses. After she took a few steps, listening to the complete silence, she realized she was alone. With a sigh of relief, she quickly walked upstairs and went into her room.

She took off her overcoat and just as she threw it onto the bed, she heard a voice behind her:

"Not tired anymore, I take it?"

With a jump Briony turned around. There sat Kol in one of the sofa chairs that was pushed against the wall besides the door.

"You're back already," she said, more to herself than to him.

"Yup," Kol replied.

"I…" Briony begun hesitantly.

"You're thinking up a lie why you weren't here," Kol interrupted her. "But that's not necessary. I know where you went. You went to find Katherine and told her to run."

Briony stared at him, taken aback.

"You're not angry," she eventually said, as she studied his face. It was calm and friendly. Almost delighted. She didn't know where it came from but since she had met him, Kol had nothing but complete trust in her. She could feel it from the beginning. It had been so easy to fall in love with him.

"No," Kol said with a smile. "I figured you'd pull a stunt like that."

When Briony didn't reply, he added: "To be honest, I was surprised how long you waited for it. I already began to think you actually wanted to help him kill Katherine."

"Well," Briony said, "I had to wait until I was close enough to meet her, hadn't I?"

"And were you?"

She nodded and told him of her short encounter with Katherine.

When she was finished, Kol stood in front of her and sighed with a smile.

"Oh, Briony, Briony, in what kind of mess are you riding us into?"

Briony observed him for a moment. "Yet it seems that's where you want to be as well, isn't it?"

He grinned.

"Don't get me wrong, I couldn't care less about Katherine's well-being. I never understood Nik's or Elijah's obsession with her. But then, it's so tiring to watch them run after her. As if they have nothing better to do with their lives. And for what? So that Nik can kill her? Great plan, really. It's high time he gets over her."

"The thing is though," he continued while caressing her face, "just keeping her out of his reach probably won't do the trick. He's much more stubborn than you, also immortal in case you forgot, and he won't stop looking for her just because she keeps getting away."

"What else can we do then?" Briony asked.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "Maybe keep him busy with other things? Fun things?"

Briony had an idea what he meant with that. Kol had the tendency to drag Nik along whenever he planned on having a fun time, whatever that entailed. And Briony had to admit, Nik could be nice in those situations. Sometimes she had almost felt bad for not telling him the whole truth about Katherine. But after a while she had convinced herself that she was doing it for his own good. Keeping Katherine away meant more fun times, which meant happy Nik. Did that make them friends? Not exactly, but at least she could tell herself she was acting out of selflessness and not pettiness. However, Briony still believed that her efforts to keep Katherine away might not be enough.

She shook her head. "I think he needs a girlfriend."

Kol laughed. "Yeah, that would be the ideal scenario."

Briony played with the thought if she should ask him if he ever considered telling Nik about their meddlings, but then decided that she didn't need to. There was the complete trust again. But at the same time Briony wondered how Kol could work out the same trust with his brother.

Kol turned to the door but then changed his mind and said: "You know, I haven't completely given up hope. Maybe it will take another few centuries or a millennium, but at one point we might be a family at peace. You know without murder fantasies or century-old feuds. A time where all of us will be content. What else is the point of living forever, right?"

"You keep saying that. And I keep telling you nothing in this world is eternal, not even your pretty face or that of your brother."

"Again these threats from you," Kol said, as he pulled her close. "It's almost as if you enjoy reminding everyone of their deaths. Why does that turn me on though?"

"Because you're a weirdo," Briony laughed.


	9. All Of Us

_**Present Day**_

"We can't let ourselves being pushed around like this by some lousy vampires! When they killed two of our own they have crossed a line!"

The crowd in the bar responded to the witch on the bar top with strong and heated approval. _House Voltaire_ had already closed for business, but it was still packed with witches. Everyone in the coven had come to talk about the situation of the recently arrived vampires in town.

Freya quietly sat in her chair and absent-mindedly rubbed her hands. She was thinking about Nancy and her other witch friend that died in front of her house. Her stomach hurt. Somehow it felt like everything that happened was her fault. Why did she even stay in New Orleans in the first place? Only to make friends that can get murdered because of her? There was no way to get rid of her blood relation to her siblings. She felt tainted. Until now nobody in the coven knew about her connection to them, and she didn't dare to imagine what would happen if they knew.

"What do they want from us?" another witch asked with watery eyes. Freya knew that she had been very close with Nancy.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Louis replied, who sat next to Freya.

She turned to him in surprise. Until now he hadn't spoken up in the discussion.

"They know about the magical heap in the forest. They want to use it for themselves!" he added.

"The what?" someone asked.

"The centre of magical energy in the forest just at the town border," Sara, the witch that stood on the bar top, explained. "It's a hotspot of magical power created through a big sacrifice that happened a century back. Nobody ever used it. And our coven has taken on the vow to protect it and only use said power for protection."

"How do the vampires know about it?"

"Who cares?" Louis replied. "We should worry about how we get rid of them."

"I say let's just get over it and stake them. Can't be that hard," someone suggested.

"It won't be that easy, unfortunately. We are to believe they are Original vampires," Sara replied and she looked to Freya.

Everybody looked at her in surprise. Some of them raised an eyebrow.

"How do we know?" the witch with the watery eyes asked.

"Freya has seen them before," Louis said and turned to look at her. He nodded at her, encouragingly.

Freya hesitantly looked into the crowd.

"It's true," she eventually said. When she figured that this wouldn't suffice as an answer, she added: "I've seen them in New Orleans in the 1920s, and no, you can't just stake them like normal vampires. Our usual craft won't be enough to kill them."

"They were here in the 1920s? Then they must know about the hotspot! They have been there when it was created! We have to stop them!" Sara replied and everyone agreed.

Freya didn't dare to disagree with them. She knew the real reason her siblings were still in town. Her. She had no idea if they knew about any magical hotspots, but she was certain that's not what they cared about right now. Luckily, the discussion on the Original vampires was no longer about why they were there, but on how to kill them. Freya sighed. That was a question that she often asked herself, but it soon had become clear that she wasn't powerful enough to do that alone. The rest of the coven soon came to the same conclusion. It was getting late and their meeting was eventually dissolved without any clear plan of action. Freya wasn't sure if she was happy about that or not. The sooner her siblings were gone the better, but Freya didn't know how to help without telling the coven the full truth.

Relieved that the discussion was over, Freya immediately turned to the exit. Before she reached it, she heard a voice behind her.

"Freya, wait a second." It was Sara that caught up with her.

Freya looked at her questioningly.

Sara hesitated. Then she said: "Let me walk you home. We can talk on the way."

The former sense of relief was gone again. Freya wasn't in the mood of talking to anyone, especially not Sara who certainly wanted to know more about her knowledge about the Original vampires. But she couldn't think of anything to say that would change Sara's mind, so she silently nodded.

Freya walked with fast steps towards her apartment, giving Sara as little time to speak as possible.

"I was thinking," Sara started, as soon as they were on their way, "that we might take the wrong approach to this Original vampire problem."

"Yeah?" Freya said, trying to sound as unattached as possible.

"You said our usual way of fighting vampires won't work. We can't stake them, they can go out in the sunlight, they are stronger…"

"True," Freya replied.

"I thought, how about we don't try to kill them. How about we use our resources, our efforts to find someone who can help us otherwise?"

"Who? How?" Freya asked in surprise.

"Back in the 1950s there was this very powerful witch here in New Orleans. She was able to make protection spells that covered the whole city. They said she was the most powerful witch that had ever lived here."

"How do you know?"

Sara smiled embarrassed. "She was my grandmother."

Then she added: "While we're not powerful enough to do a spell to get rid off the Original vampires ourselves, I think we're powerful enough to resurrect someone who can, as a coven I mean. At least for protection. From what you know about those vampires, do you think something like this would work?"

Freya thought about it for a moment. Resurrection spells did take some time, but with the amount of capable witches they had it wasn't unthinkable. And if Sara's grandmother really was that powerful, she'd be easier to resurrect than a normal person.

"That might work."

Although the conversation hadn't been as dreadful as Freya expected, she was glad when she finally reached her apartment. At least now she didn't have to pretend anymore that she was only an outsider in the whole Original situation. She shut her door behind her and rested against it. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to wander. Maybe, just maybe, Rebekah followed suit and actually left town with her brothers? Maybe they would leave her be? If not, would Sara's idea actually work?

Suddenly she heard a rumbling noise from the hallway.

"Sara?" Freya said and she turned around and opened her front door again.

Freya gasped and took a step back.

"Not exactly." In front of her stood Niklaus, casually leaning in the door frame.

"Sara can't talk right now," he said with a grin, as he looked to his left on the ground.

Then Freya saw her. Sara's eyes stood wide open as she lied lifeless in the corner of the hallway. The puddle of blood rinsing out her friend's body extended slowly. Freya's stomach felt like it was punching its way upwards.

"What have you done?!" she stammered in panic, her eyes watering.

"I think that's rather obvious, isn't it?" Niklaus replied with a snort.

There was a malice grin on his face. Freya felt how her legs were about to give way. What could she do? Before she realized what she had done, she had already slammed the door shut. She started rushing through her apartment. What to do? He couldn't get inside, but now she was trapped in her own home.

"Freya," she heard him say through the door, "do you really think that door will keep me out for long?"

Freya didn't reply. Frantically she looked around her apartment. The window. She rushed over, then very slowly she opened the curtain for a few inches and peeked out. From her window she had a good view of the road. It was dark, but she could make out that it was almost empty. Climbing out would be possible, but she doubted she'd make it to the ground before Niklaus would notice her absence. She already considered jumping when she saw the blonde figure standing across the street. It was Rebekah. When she caught her eye, she waved at Freya. Filled with panic, Freya pulled the curtains close again. She circled her apartment a few more times, her heart beating faster and faster. There was no way out.

With several very deep breaths she neared the door again. With her last bit of courage she ripped open the door.

Niklaus was still standing where he was a few moments ago. He smiled at her.

"What do you want?" she said quickly, forcing herself not to break eye contact.

"I need you to come with us," he replied.

"No," she said shortly. Part of her wanted to slam the door again, but she knew that was no use.

"It wasn't a question, Freya," Niklaus replied, his smile slowly fading.

"Before you shut the door again," he quickly said, as he observed her movements, "consider that I won't go away. I don't mind waiting, but it won't make a difference for you. For all it takes, I can stand here for days or weeks with you trapped in here."

"Someone will look for me!" she said, trying to sound threatening.

"Even better!" he said, smiling again. "Will they come here? They can join Sara on the floor."

They stared at each other. When she didn't reply, Niklaus said with an air of finality: "I'll make it easy for you. You have three choices. One, you come with me right now and no one gets hurt. No one except Sara, I mean. Two, you stay here and I'll wait, killing anyone else who might show up. Three, you stay here and I get terribly bored and I'll burn the house to the ground." After a pause he added with a smile: "I'm really hoping you say three."

Freya looked at him aghast.

"What's it gonna be, Freya?"

* * *

 _ **1750, Northern France**_

They descended the marble stairs down to the road to the carriage that was supposed to bring them to Chateau Gratot. Elijah was the first to reach the bottom and he turned around. Nik was closely following him, but Kol and Briony were nowhere in sight.

"We should get going," he said with a sigh.

"We're not in a hurry," Nik replied, and handed a huge trunk to the driver. With a grumble he added: "If it was up to me, we wouldn't need to go at all."

"You already said that," Elijah replied with a yawn. Nik's opinion about the journey was nothing new, but he had already expected that Nik was going to bring it up again.

"Does it not surprise you how quick she does things like that?" he began.

There he goes again. Elijah didn't bother to reply.

"I mean," Nik continued, "Rebekah has left for like two seconds and she's already married to a stranger? Who does that?"

"She has been gone for almost two years, Niklaus."

Nik ignored him. "And what does she even hope to achieve with a human? He'll be dead before she knows it. I don't understand her."

Personally Elijah wasn't much bothered by Rebekah's choices. Each of them had already at one point taken off to start a new life without the others, but in the end they always came back. Elijah was sure Rebekah knew that as well. But if she wanted to spend some time alone for a while he didn't mind.

"I think you're jealous that our sister has got so much game in the relationship department, Nik." Kol swiftly came down the stairs. He carried a small suitcase in his hand, and threw it through the carriage window.

"Yeah, I'm not jealous that she married some old man," Nik replied.

"He's not that old. Technically he's younger than all of us. That one up there included," Kol nodded to Briony, who appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Yes, good, let the only person here without super strength carry the heavy trunk," Briony said from the top of the stairs, as she laboriously pulled the trunk to the edge. "It can only take another few hours when I do it, but I'm sure you enjoy standing around and waiting for me. Don't me mind me doing all the hard work!"

Kol and Nik didn't pay her any attention.

"Whatever. The marriage won't hold long in any case. I give it five years tops," Nik replied.

"Always so negative, Nik," Kol said. "No wonder she didn't invite us to the wedding."

Neither of them made any indications that they were getting into the carriage. Elijah looked up to Briony again, who still struggled with the trunk and slowly pushed it towards the stairs but hadn't managed much difference since she appeared.

"For God's sake," Elijah murmured, and he leapt up the stairs again. He grabbed the trunk, and gave Briony a nod to go downstairs.

"Thank you," she replied and joined the others.

"I think it's wonderful she got married," Briony said as she reached the carriage, "and I agree forty-five is not that old for a human. From how she described him, he must be very handsome."

"And from what we all know this is the key element to a successful relationship," Kol said with a wink.

"You especially must be glad that it's not the brains, Kol," Nik replied.

"How about we discuss Kol's brains in the carriage? Yes?" Elijah said, as he tried to hush the other three into the carriage.

In the late afternoon they arrived at the cascading hillside that belonged to the Chateau Gratot. Rebekah had told them in a letter that her new husband didn't have any children, which made her the alone heir in case of his death. Elijah doubted that she actually cared about that. Rebekah wasn't the type to marry for money. But he still was surprised of the vast amount of land that apparently belonged to the castle. She also told them that right now her husband was away, but would join them in a week. Elijah figured that was probably good, so they had a chance to catch up with Rebekah alone first.

As they drove up the entrance he could already see Rebekah waiting and frantically waving at them. She ran down the stairs of the building and grabbed them into a hug individually.

"You made it!" she added in a high-pitched voice. She looked radiant and was visibly happy to see them.

Apart from the slightly excessive clothing she didn't look much different from her usual self. After she was done with her greetings, she ushered them inside the house. Elijah looked around. The entrance had a vast amount of space with expensive but tacky furniture.

"Let me introduce you to my new best friend, Flora."

"Hello," Flora said quietly.

Only now Elijah noticed the woman that was waiting at the end of the hallway. She gave a shy smile at the mentioning of her name. The attention seemed to make her uncomfortable.

"Briony," Rebekah said, as she pulled Briony's arm to her side. Then she placed her next to Flora."I was just waiting for you two to meet and that the three of us can be friends at last!"

Briony was taken by surprise by this and smiled weakly. Flora eyed her suspiciously.

After Rebekah had placed Briony next to Flora, she said: "Flora has been my constant ally here in the castle. She's a cousin of my husband Felix. I'm so glad she's here all the time."

Elijah sensed some boredom in her voice, but he didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

After this odd introduction to Flora, Rebekah began showing them around in the house. The rest of the house was like the entrance, absurdly big, but Elijah could see that it was probably very comfortable to live here.

"How good of you to all come for this celebratory occasion of Rebekah's," Flora said, who accompanied them on their tour. Until now she hadn't spoken to them.

"Her what?" Kol asked.

"Her birthday?" Flora said, slightly affronted.

"Right," Elijah said quickly.

He and Kol exchanged confused looks. Flora studied them both. Elijah could tell she was judging them hard. Before she could say anything else, Rebekah interrupted her.

"Boys, let me show you to your rooms," she said and quickly pushed them out of the room.

As soon as Flora was out of earshot, she said: "I have to admit there's something I haven't written in my letters. I didn't just invite you, because I wanted to see you." After a pause she explained: "You see, when I didn't you invite to the wedding - which by the way, I don't regret at all, I know what you can be like - Felix got somewhat suspicious. He thought we were on very bad terms and said I should try to reconcile you and invite you to my birthday. Now I just need you to look happy for a few weeks and we're good."

The brothers looked at Rebekah in disbelief.

"And here I was thinking you wanted to see us," Kol said, taken an artificial offense.

Rebekah waved him down. "Of course I wanted to see you guys, but maybe in a less public setting, where you can destroy everything I built up, as you always do."

Nik wanted to retort, but Elijah was quicker: "And what about that birthday of yours?"

"Right," Rebekah said, "as a human I needed a date of birth, didn't I? And apparently that's something you celebrate. Last year's was really nice." She reflected on it with a smile.

After a few seconds her smile hardened and she added: "But I'm serious: Behave. Don't mess up my new life here. You'll regret it."

Elijah wondered if that was a promise.

The rest of the day was uneventful. Nobody had made any more unsuitable comments about the birthday that could make Flora suspicious, Rebekah didn't threaten anyone else and Nik didn't mention his doubts on the marriage on the whole. In the evening when Elijah was alone with Rebekah and Nik, Rebekah eventually brought up her made-up birthday again.

"I say we see this birthday party not only as a party for me but for all of us. That even after everything that happened we are still a family. Even though I want to murder you sometimes, I still love you guys. Let this day remind us that we are still together!" Rebekah announced.

"Hear, hear!" Nik added with a laugh.

Suddenly Rebekah turned more serious. With some hesitance she turned directly to Nik.

"And with that in mind, I was wondering…" she observed Nik intently as she spoke in a soft voice, trying to see his reaction right away.

Elijah leaned forwards. He knew that expression. Rebekah wanted something. Something that Nik probably didn't want to give.

"This celebration of us being together is not complete until," she spoke very slowly, "it was all of us, isn't it? Until Finn is here too, right?"

Nik's face hardened, and he slowly moved back in his chair.

Now Rebekah spoke quicker: "We could see it as a new beginning. All of us together. We wouldn't need to fight about it. I'm sure Finn would forget about it as well if he was unstaked."

Nik didn't reply. In desperation, Rebekah turned to Elijah. So far they had always been on the same side when it was on the topic of unstaking siblings, most of the time Finn or Kol. In the recent decades Kol had weaseled his way out of that possible torment by getting a powerful enough girlfriend that made it impossible for Nik to even consider staking Kol, but Finn wasn't so lucky. By now he must have spent more time being staked than being alive.

Then Nik also turned to him, to see what he thought.

Elijah looked back and forth between the two of them. To his own surprise, he actually wasn't sure if that was the best time to unstake Finn. The last 50 years had been surprisingly quiet, which was nice for a change. He and Nik, Kol and Rebekah got along fine. Kol had been unusually polite, Nik surprisingly pleasant, but all of that might change if you threw in Finn into the mix. Usually I didn't take long and Nik pissed off Finn or the other way round, and the others had to choose sides, which eventually led to at least one of them being staked by Nik again.

But then again, like Rebekah, he always thought Nik's inability to deal with confrontation and simply stake his brothers or sister was his worst quality and he didn't want to support that quality now. And of course, he would like to see Finn again.

"It has been a long time, Nik," he slowly said. "Maybe now's a good time for all of us to start anew?"

Rebekah nodded enthusiastically.

"Why now?" Nik asked skeptically and turned back to Rebekah.

"We've all been so happy in the last few decades, haven't we?" she replied. "Can't it only get better when it's all of us?"

Elijah wanted to roll his eyes but didn't. _Yes, why not improve the happy times by making them more difficult._

Nik didn't reply, but Elijah could tell that he was restraining himself.

"Doesn't he have the right to be happy with us?" she pleaded.

"Let's give it a chance?" Elijah added, against his better judgement.

Nik hesitated, thinking.

"Please," Rebekah pleaded.

He looked up again, and eventually said: "Fine. I'll do it."

Rebekah smiled at Elijah with delight. He smiled back, slightly forced. He really hoped this would turn out well. Before either of them had the chance to say anything, Nik got up and left the room. They stared at the door where he just disappeared.

With a slight confusion, Rebekah asked: "Do you think he's going to unstake him right now?"


	10. Field of Mayhem

_**Present Day**_

Rebekah watched Freya's apartment from across the street. It didn't take long and the front door opened, and Nik and Freya appeared. Nik walked towards her, while pulling Freya by her arm. Freya reluctantly followed suit and stumbled along behind him. Rebekah was surprised how quick Nik managed to get Freya out of the house. When they had planned the hostage they believed it would take much longer for Freya to give up her apartment, her safe space. As they walked towards her, Elijah appeared from the other side of the house and joined them as well.

"Nik, we talked about this!" Elijah said affronted.

"What?" Nik asked.

Elijah nodded towards the house. Nik only raised an eyebrow.

"No unnecessary casualties. It will just make things harder with her later," Elijah said.

"I'm pretty sure it's too late for that now," Rebekah said with a sigh.

Freya kept her eyes on the lantern in front of her, forcefully avoiding eye contact with any of them.

"I don't know what your problem is," Nik as he reaffirmed his grip on Freya's arm, "it took me like five minutes to get her out of the house. Being all nice would only have made the hostage situation unnecessarily longer. I did you a favour if anything."

Elijah rolled his eyes. "Nevermind, let's go."

Marcel and Davina appeared from a side alley.

"How good of you to join us," Nik said drily.

"I'm sorry that some of us have to walk at normal speed," Davina retorted.

"Common, we're like five minutes late. You said it was going to take hours at least. Obviously you didn't even need our help. What happened?" Marcel asked.

"Don't ask." Elijah waved him down.

Marcel laughed.

"Who would have thought she'd give up so easily?" He said light-hearted.

He looked at Freya, but her view was fixed on Davina. There was shock in her eyes. Rebekah still didn't know the full extent of what had happened between Davina and the coven. She knew that the coven must have done something terrible to drive Davina away. But apparently it still didn't sit well with many witches that she changed sides.

"Let's go then?" Rebekah suggested.

Elijah nodded.

They walked along the dark alleyway. Nik still holding onto Freya's arm. Rebekah walked next to them, and Elijah, Marcel and Davina followed. Neither of them spoke.

"Guys," Davina suddenly said after they had turned around a few corners.

Rebekah turned around and saw that she had stopped a few steps back. They others looked back too.

"Someone's following us. Witches."

They exchanged looks.

"We should stop them," Elijah said.

"I said I was coming with you. You said nobody's getting hurt! There's no need for a fight," Freya exclaimed.

Nik and Marcel exchanged a smile.

She turned to Marcel. "Marcel, don't you want to keep ip the truce?"

"I'm afraid that ship has sailed," he replied.

"We can't have them follow us," Elijah said as he looked in the direction that Davina pointed out.

"Rebekah, why don't you go ahead with Freya?" Nik said, as he was holding out Freya to her.

"Why am I always the one excluded from the fun?" Rebekah snapped back.

"I'll do it," Elijah said. "Just make sure they won't follow us."

Nik handed him Freya.

"Wait!" Freya shouted, trying to restrain from Elijah's grip.

But Elijah already pulled her along the street. Davina followed them.

The other three turned back and looked in the dark alley. They heard someone coming. They walked back around the last corner they had just come from. There stood the six people, four women and two men, who had been following them. The witches stopped dead still as they saw the three vampires.

"One last chance to negotiate?" Nik suggested to the two others.

Rebekah looked at him surprise. "Since when do you want to negotiate?"

"I figured somebody should at least say it when Elijah isn't here."

"Let me," Marcel said, and he stepped forward.

He turned to the six witches in front of them. "There's no need for violence. If you turn around now, none of you's going to die."

"It's you who's going to die," one of the witches spat.

"Oh, okay," Marcel replied unimpressed.

He turned back to Nik and Rebekah: "I tried my best, guys."

"You did great," Nik replied and gave him a clap on his back.

As he walked forward he added: "Let's do it then."

And then many things happened at the same time. The witches were obviously preparing for this. One of the witches threw something on the ground, some kind of cloth filled with something. As it touched the ground it exploded, and a thin mist immediately surrounded them. Another witch went to the back and sat down and immediately started chanting a spell. A sound like high-pitched cry went through the air that crumbled Rebekah's ears. She realized the mist from before was some kind of vervain mixture. It burned on her whole body. Together with the high-pitched cry that still drummed into her ears she had trouble staying on her legs. She saw that Nik and Marcel were struggling too. One of the witches hurried towards her, holding something like a spear. Rebekah fought with all her might against the pain in her head, to stay focused. Before the witch could reach her, Rebekah broke the spear in two and threw the witch across the street. From the corner of her eye she saw Nik fighting off two of the other witches. Suddenly a man appeared between her and Nik. He was holding a bat. For a second Rebekah wondered who would be so stupid to bring a bat to a fight against vampires. She didn't have time to contemplate at that thought though when the bat suddenly flew into her face. Just a second before it hit her she realized she had seen that man's face before. It was Louis. Pain shot into forehead and she stumbled backwards. While she caught hold on her feet, she saw how Louis managed to hit another blow at Nik. The spell really weakened their senses. Rebekah tried to grab him but only managed to push him onto the ground. That's when she felt a fiery new pain in her face. That wasn't just a hit with a normal bat. Something was sticking to it and now it was on her head.

"Werewolf venom!" Rebekah shouted.

"Pretty clever, isn't it?" Louis gasped, when he was getting up from the ground again.

Nik was about to strike him, when two other witches attacked him. He grabbed one of them and threw onto the balcony of one of the nearby houses. A glass behind the balcony shattered, and the witch didn't get up anymore. Then he grabbed the other and snapped her neck. Finally Marcel managed to get to the last witch that was chanting. He pulled her out of her protection circle and smashed her head onto asphalt.

Suddenly Rebekah heard a growl behind her. Before she had the chance to turn around she already felt the beast ripping through her shoulder. The pain shut through her body. There was no time to let the pain get hold of her. The only thing she could do was pulling it off her and throw it across the street. It took her a moment to realize what was happening. Then she registered the four werewolves that were amongst the witches.

The next one was already heading towards her. But this time she was ready for it, and before it could reach her she had already ripped out its heart. She turned around and saw that Nik had already taken care of another two.

Then she heard a scream. She turned around and saw Marcel on the ground in agony. The fourth werewolf had just half of his chest open. Nik was there before her, and pulled away the werewolf. When Rebekah reached them she ripped out the werewolf's heart.

Behind her she heard footsteps leading away from them. She turned around. The last two witches took flight.

"Shall we go after them?" Rebekah asked.

Nik hesitated. Rebekah knew that his initial response would have been yes. But then he turned to Marcel: "Let's look after the more pressing matters first."

Rebekah felt her shoulder hurting as well. Bloody werewolf venom.

Slowly overcoming her pain, she absorbed the bloody street before them. It was truly a field of mayhem.

"Let's get Marcel home then," Nik said, as he lifted off Marcel by his shoulders.

"Wait," Rebekah said.

Something wasn't right. She looked at the bodies again, searching.

"Someone's missing."

"Who?" Nik asked.

"The one with the bat."

Nik looked around as well, his face hardening.

"I'll get him," Rebekah shortly and went off into the direction where Elijah, Davina and Freya had gone.

It didn't take long and she caught up with them. She saw Elijah and Davina hurrying further down the street. By now Elijah was carrying Freya completely, apparently having decided that it was quicker that way. Then she saw Louis as well. He was lurking along the building walls in the darkness, in safe distance.

Within seconds she stood next to him. She grabbed him by the head and threw across the street.

Through the noise the Elijah and the others turned around. Louis was lying on the ground in a crouching position, grumbling with pain. He tried to get up. Rebekah pulled him on his head again and threw him on his back. Then she grabbed him by his neck.

"Don't kill him!" she heard Freya shouting from behind.

Rebekah considered her for a moment. She seemed above all terrified.

"Just compel him! He won't remember anything later!" Freya pleaded.

"It won't work," Davina immediately replied. "All the witches in the coven drink vervain tea. They're not idiots."

"We don't have time for this!" Elijah interrupted.

"Well, then..." Rebekah began.

"Don't!" Freya shouted.

Rebekah hesitated for a second.

"Fine," she decided. And she smashed Louis' head over the curb. He didn't get up. Rebekah could still hear his heart beating. He was unconscious but fine.

"But you owe me big time."

* * *

 _ **1750, Northern France**_

"You're going to unstake Finn? Can I come with you?" Briony blurted out. They followed Nik down the entrance stairs. Elijah still didn't fully believe that Nik was actually going to do it. He'd only believe it when he saw Finn in front of him.

"No." Nik replied with a matter of fact-ness.

"Don't you always say you want me to figure out more about vampirism?" Briony pleaded. "This would be a great opportunity, don't you think?"

 _Why on earth is she shouting about vampires,_ Elijah thought. _There are at least five people in possible earshot._

"You unstake them and they come back to life. That's it. There's not more to know about it," Nik replied.

 _Don't endorse this conversation, Nik._ Elijah closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath.

"Except that tidbit that it's pretty painful for the one being staked," Kol weighed in and glared at Nik. "But you wouldn't know about that, would you?"

Elijah couldn't believe it. Why would Kol want to pick a fight right now? When Nik agreed to unstake Finn?

Nik stopped and glared back at Kol.

"Let's get back into the house," Elijah said quickly, and grabbed Kol's arm.

Then he turned to Nik: "And you get on your way."

Kol resisted for a moment, but then gave in with a grumble. Elijah gave Nik a last nod and pulled Kol back into the house. From the corner of his eye he saw Nik hesitate too and watch them go back inside. But then he picked up his walk down the stairs.

When they were back inside, he gave Kol a slap over the head.

"You're a bloody moron, Kol."

"I just stated a fact. I didn't know you are all pro-staking siblings now, Elijah."

"I'm not. That's why you might wanna keep your facts to yourself until Finn's here."

Kol grumbled but didn't reply.

"He left," Briony said. She still stood at the door looking down onto the driveway. "Have none of you ever tried to follow him? To the coffins?"

"Sure," Kol replied, his face lighting up again. "But that usually had the opposite effect of what we're hoping. He just got pissed off more."

"And you just let him do that?" Briony said skeptically. Then she looked back outside. "This is ridiculous."

"There you are!" Rebekah suddenly appeared in the hallway.

Elijah turned to her. She was rushing towards them. It was clear that she didn't mean him, but Briony. Rebekah walked over to her and grabbed her by her arm and pulled her to the door that led to the garden terrace. Kol eagerly trailed after them. They disappeared as quickly as Rebekah appeared. Elijah wasn't in the mood to follow them and slowly made his way to the living room. He didn't get far before he heard steps behind him. Part of him already feared that it was Nik who changed his mind. When he looked up he saw it was Flora.

"Have you seen Rebekah?" she asked.

Elijah nodded towards the window. Outside Rebekah and Briony stood at the rail of the balcony and laughed. Whatever story Rebekah was telling must have been absolutely hilarious.

Flora hesitated. She watched them for a moment through the window and then turned away.

"You don't want to go outside then?" Elijah asked.

"Nevermind," Flora replied. "I feel like I'd be interrupting something."

Elijah couldn't resent her for not wanting to go outside. He studied her face. She looked back at him with a slight surprise. But she didn't look like she didn't enjoy being looked at. So far he hadn't much chance to talk to her alone. Until now he had the impression Flora was shy, a bit untalkative. But maybe he was wrong about that. Maybe she was just quiet.

"Do you look forward to the party?" he asked.

She smiled. "Of course."

Flora didn't elaborate on her answer, which somewhat confirmed Elijah's theory about her. The following silence didn't seem to make her in any way uncomfortable. It was a nice change for once, the silence. Being with his siblings all the time reminded him that none of them could ever shut up. Either it was bickering about something or telling the same story for the millionth time. Even Nik had trouble not telling his opinion about every possible thing. And since Briony joined them, there was even a person more who made sure the general sound level stayed up.

The days that led up to the infamous birthday party were uneventful. Elijah was surprised how relaxed Rebekah was about the preparations. After she had told them how important the event was for her, he had expected her to take it much more serious. Although she looked carefree there was something that made her tense. He knew that she was bothered by something that wasn't the party. Nik still hadn't returned with Finn. Elijah didn't know if Nik would keep his word and actually unstake him. And if he did, could he persuade Finn to come with him? It was one thing if Finn could forgive Nik. But could he also forgive the others for not doing more to keep Nik doing it in the first place?

Rebekah and Kol didn't seem to be worried about that. Their focus of worry was on Nik actually going through with his promise.

It was the evening before the birthday party and they still hadn't heard from Nik. Rebekah had been grumpy the whole day, snapping at all of them. Kol kept telling her that he "knew all along that they wouldn't show up in time," which only made her angrier. Elijah resigned from meddling and theorizing with them and decided to just wait it out. There was not much they could do anyway.

It had already become late and everybody except Rebekah, Elijah and Kol had gone to bed. They didn't speak it out loud, but each of them apparently made the decision to just sit there until they heard from Nik. They had been sitting in one of the living rooms in a half circle. Neither of them spoke. Elijah stared at the door. He had been staring at the door for such a long time that he was sure he could remember all the door's details for the rest of his life. Nothing happened. He looked over to Kol, who absent-mindedly looked into the fire burning in the fireplace. He turned to Rebekah. She sat half hidden in one of the sofa chairs, her arms crossed.

When she saw him looking at her she said with gritted teeth: "He only had this one thing to do."

Elijah didn't know what to reply. It was true. Nik only had one thing to do. But there were so many things that could go wrong with that one thing.

Kol turned to them and opened his mouth. Elijah figured he was going to tell them again that he knew all along, but he didn't. Instead he readjusted his pose, and resigned back to looking at the fire with a grumble.

"This is useless," Elijah eventually said and got up.

He didn't want to be the one who gave up first. But he knew if he didn't leave, the others would sit there as long as it took. Even if it took days or weeks. As he got up, he was expecting protest from his siblings. They didn't say anything. He turned to Rebekah. She sat up straight and stared at the door.

"Someone's coming," she said with suppressed excitement.

The door slowly opened.

Nik came inside. Elijah couldn't read his face. They all stared at him with anticipation. Then with a swift step to the side he moved away from the door. A second man appeared. It was Finn.


	11. The Birthday Party

_**Present Day**_

They had put Freya in one of the bedrooms on the top floor. After Davina had put a confinement spell over the doors and windows, Freya was able to move around the room without leaving it. It seemed to be the most humane way to keep her imprisoned. This didn't make Freya any more cooperative. After they had arrived in the mansion Freya apparently had taken on a vow of silence. Since they had placed her in her room she hadn't spoken a word with them. Instead she either looked at them defiantly or turned away when they entered the room.

Every few hours one of the siblings tried to talk to her without any success. In the evening Rebekah again entered Freya's room with a bottle of water and bag of chips.

"Here, you need to eat," she said and threw both things onto the bed.

Rebekah didn't exactly know when it happened, but she had grown tired of being friendly to her sister. It was exhausting to try to impress her when there was nothing in return. And Nik was right, she didn't need her. Not in a sister function, anyway.

Freya sat on the chair next to the desk. She shortly inspected the chips that landed on the bed and then turned back to Rebekah. They looked at each other for a few moments.

Rebekah sighed loudly. "I don't know what you're expecting to gain from not speaking. But whatever. Feel free to sit here in silence."

She was about turn around and leave when she realized Elijah was standing behind her.

"Let's try a bit harder, okay?" he said.

"Fine," Rebekah replied.

She followed Elijah into the room. As Elijah walked over to the bed, Rebekah sat down on the window seat. Elijah slowly held up the bag of chips.

"Was that the only food we had in the house?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It was this or a can of artichokes."

"I guess we should get some food tomorrow," he said quietly and placed it back onto the bed. Then he sat down on the corner of the bed and turned to Freya.

"You're going to be here if you like it or not. But it's up to you if it's going to be pleasant," Elijah said.

Freya blinked. She didn't look like she had any intention of replying to this.

"She won't trust us as long as she doesn't see we're family," Rebekah said to him.

"True," he replied. "I guess we're all so far away from our common beginning, that it's hard to see sometimes. That at one point we all lived at the same place and we lived a normal human life. That we all had the same mother." He fixed his eyes on Freya. She stared back at him.

"This place reminds a lot of her. I don't like it," Rebekah said.

Elijah gave weak understanding smile.

Rebekah had a sudden idea. She inspected Freya, sitting in her chair with crossed arms. There was a lot of defiance in her eyes.

"You look a lot like our mother. Much more than I do, really," Rebekah said.

She glanced over to Elijah, who seemed to get where she was going. He nodded.

"Aren't you at all curious about her?" Rebekah continued.

Freya didn't reply.

"While we're still humans I adored her really. She was so warm and all-knowing, so trust-worthy. Then that whole vampire thing happened, which brought out a new side in all of us. I have long forgiven her for that. But all of that changed with her death in 1809."

"1809?" Freya asked with surprise.

Rebekah smiled. She knew that this would catch Freya's interest.

"Yes, that's when she tried to kill us. Trying to undo the deeds of her family. A bit like you I suppose."

It used to be hard for Rebekah to talk about those years.

"But how was she alive in 1809?" Freya looked at her with bewilderment. She must have had forgotten about her determination to not talk to her.

"Long story. She was never quite dead. Asleep if you will. We woke her up to help us with …something."

She still had Freya's attention, so Rebekah continued. "Then she double-crossed us and tried to kill us instead. Fortunately Nik noticed something was up. Else the rest of us would be below the ground and not her."

"He killed his own mother?" Freya looked at her in disgust.

"It doesn't matter who killed whom," Elijah replied. "In the end, we were all guilty. Even her."

Freya didn't seem to fully grasp the meaning of these words. But Rebekah didn't expect her to.

"And what does this have to do with this place here?" Freya asked.

"It happened here. In New Orleans."

"I see why you're not fond of it then" Freya leaned back in her chair, trying to make sense of all this information.

"It's one of the reasons. But the rest doesn't concern you," Rebekah replied.

Freya's kept fixed on Rebekah, then looked at Elijah. He and Rebekah exchanged looks. It was hard to tell what Freya was thinking, but Rebekah didn't like it.

After a pause Freya said: "I was there, you know. In 1925. I'd say it concerns me to some extent."

Rebekah gulped. "I don't remember you."

"Fair enough. We haven't exactly talked back then. But I was there. At that little party of yours. I know what you did. I know what your brother did. I know what happened to that poor coven. That none of them committed suicide, as the newspapers claimed later."

There it was again. The defiance in her eyes. But this time Rebekah wasn't sure how to stop it.

Freya continued: "But make no mistake. The coven back then might have been too weak, but now there are more witches in the coven, and they are strong."

"You clearly don't know what you're talking about," Elijah replied defiantly.

"Oh really," she replied in a mocking tone.

"It is what it is, Freya," Elijah said. "Fact is that you're staying here until you're cooperative."

With that he got up, and Rebekah followed suit.

As they reached the door, Rebekah heard Freya behind her: "Why do you even want me here?"

Rebekah turned back to her. She looked angry but also genuinely confused.

Rebekah and Elijah exchanged looks.

"Why would we tell you if you don't trust us?" Rebekah said.

And with that she left Freya's room.

Elijah closed the door behind her and caught up with Rebekah.

With a low voice he asked: "Do you believe her? She doesn't know why we took her with us?"

"We took her so she can't hurt us with blood spells. Apparently that idea hasn't come to her mind yet."

"I don't know," Elijah replied. "It's hard to tell if she hasn't tried it yet or if she just doesn't know about blood spells at all."

"If she knew she would have tried it. I think she's really in to hurt us. At least emotionally she's not holding back," Rebekah replied.

Some of the comments Freya said got close to her again. It made her angry. Why was it so hard to not care about what Freya thought?

Together they walked downstairs into the living room where they found Nik sitting on the sofa.

"No luck?" he asked, not that attached.

Rebekah gave a grumble, which sufficed as an answer.

"Marcel's fine," he said. "Resting."

Rebekah placed herself next to him and stretched her legs. Elijah stayed in the entrance door and looked absently into the room.

"I'm not sure if we're ever going to have progress with her. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to bring her here," he said.

"It was your idea, Elijah," Nik replied.

"Thanks for reminding me."

"It has only been a day. She can still change her mind," Rebekah said.

She didn't truly believe in those words. But it would be an even worse idea to let her go again.

Nik raised his left hand. "I have an idea that would make everything easier."

The others turned to him in surprise.

"Let's turn her into a vampire. She wouldn't have any witchy powers to hurt us. We could sire her. Done. Problem solved."

"No!" both Elijah and Rebekah said together.

"Why not?" Nik asked.

"Just no," Rebekah said. "Ethical reasons."

Nik rolled his eyes. "Just don't tell me later I didn't give you a solution at this point."

Elijah shook his head.

"If we could turn to the more pressing matters now," Nik continued.

Elijah and Rebekah exchanged confused looks.

"Was I the only one surprised that we were attacked by werewolves last night?!" he asked with a raised voice.

"Yes. I didn't know they were working with the witches," Rebekah weighed in.

"According to Marcel, until now they weren't," Nik replied.

"And us being here changed that?" Elijah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't think that's the whole reason. There's something else. Us being here obviously poses as a threat. But what is threatened?"

"There is something they think we want," Rebekah put together. "What?"

Nik smiled. "There is only one way to find out, isn't there?"

* * *

 _ **1750, Northern France**_

"And then he took it out! Just like that! And I said what do you think you're gonna do with that, Monsieur?"

"Please, Briony. There are things about my brother I don't need to know."

Elijah didn't bother to look at her. Instead he observed the piece of bread in his plate. They sat on the garden terrace for breakfast. Rebekah and Briony had been telling each other stories from their marital lives, while Flora listened to them. Nik and Kol hadn't showed up yet. Elijah realized that they were probably late on purpose. He envied them a bit. Next to him sat Finn. He looked at his newly revived brother. In the last night the siblings had caught up about the last century that Finn had missed. It was a heartfelt reunion at first. They had been happy to see him again. The whole night they had stayed up and talked. Only when it began to dawn, Elijah sensed that not everything was fully alright. Finn had been happy at first. But then there was some distance. There had always been a core difference between Finn and his siblings. Finn never quite accepted his state as a vampire. And because of that it never felt completely like he was one of them. Elijah truly wished that Finn was closer to them, and he knew that most of his siblings thought the same. Yet there was always something that put them apart.

"I could have told him exactly what to do with it. Put it back in his trousers, where it belonged," he heard Flora say.

Rebekah spilled out her tea with laughter.

Finn turned to Elijah and spoke with a low voice to make sure that only he would hear him. "I'm surprised you guys still put up with breakfast routines."

Elijah gave a little smile: "Some routine isn't bad, don't you think?"

"Probably not," Finn replied absent-mindedly. He looked up the marble house walls and inspected the window frames.

Elijah knew what a shock it was every time when one woke up after a long time of being staked. Everything was always so different. And for Finn who had spent so much time in the coffin it must be especially strange.

"You know, after this whole birthday thing, Nik and I thought we could all go to the North Sea. That's something we al-"

Elijah couldn't finish his sentence, as he heard Nik's voice interrupt his.

"What is this? Briony is even more inappropriate than usual?" Nik said as he joined them at the table.

Briony squinted her eyes. "Are you getting wrinkles, Nik? You look older."

"If I do, I probably still look younger than you, love."

Briony laughed. "You wish."

Then she looked back to the terrace door again.

"Where is Kol?" she exclaimed.

"If I find him talking to that maid again, I swear to God…" she grumbled, as she walked over to the door and went inside.

"She shouldn't use the lord's name in vain," Flora said quietly.

Nobody replied to her. Instead Rebekah said: "As soon as my husband arrives, I want all of you to show yourself from your best side. Especially you, Nik!"

"What did I do?" Nik replied affronted.

"Just be polite," Rebekah insisted.

"I'm always polite. If I wasn't I wouldn't tell you that a carriage arrived just now."

"What?!" Rebekah shrieked. A second later she disappeared through the terrace door.

Nik followed her. Flora got up as well.

Elijah too was about to leave when Finn said: "Just to make one thing clear. I'm not planning on staying for long."

Elijah sat back in his seat again. "What do you mean?"

"I haven't forgiven him, if that's what you're wondering. But I agreed on coming here for this reunion. After that I don't know yet. We'll see."

Finn's words stuck with Elijah as he followed the others inside. It felt like it had already started. The distancing. Elijah felt a heavy rock in his chest. Was there even a way to stop Finn from leaving? If he disappeared now it would almost feel the same as last week when he was still in a coffin.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. With his mind preoccupied Elijah simply walked with the flow and did what he was told. They had all greeted Rebekah's husband as he arrived. He seemed okay. Elijah only said a few words to him before returning back to his thoughts. Again and again he spied on Finn. Did he seem happy? Not really.

Before Elijah knew it, it was already dark outside and he stood back on the terrace in the middle of the party. He rested on the railing of the terrace. He wasn't sure where all these people had come from. There was laughter, music and loud chatter around him. He didn't mind. The constant blur of all kinds of noises somehow made it easy to think. What he thought was tacky was the overflowing decadence of the decoration and the food.

"Are you not enjoying the party?" he suddenly heard someone say next to him.

It was Flora. She held a plate with half eaten piece of cake.

"Yes, of course. It's a great party," Elijah said. He didn't want it to sound as sarcastic as it did.

Flora laughed. "Is that so."

Then she added: "But something seems to bother you."

Elijah hesitated for a moment. He couldn't see any reason why he shouldn't tell her.

"It's my brother Finn. I haven't seen him in a while, and it feels like I don't really know him anymore."

Flora nodded. "Rebekah said that he has been absent in your lives. But now he's back, isn't he?"

"I'm not sure. I feel like he's distancing himself. He might be leaving again."

Flora thought for a second. "If you want him to stay, maybe you should try a bit harder. Convince him that it's worth staying."

Elijah smiled weakly. That's what he should be doing indeed. What worried him is that there might not enough time to do it.

Flora pulled him back from his thoughts. "It looks like Rebekah is already doing the job for you."

Elijah followed her gaze. On the other side of the terrace stood Rebekah and Finn, deep in an animated conversation. Finn said something and Rebekah laughed loudly. It looked like they were having a good time. Elijah gave Flora a nudge and they walked over to them.

As he reached them, Rebekah grabbed his arm in excitement.

"Elijah, good, you're here! We wanna stay up and watch the sunrise! I know just the place where to see it. Finn hasn't seen one in centuries!"

Flora raised an eyebrow.

"Metaphorically speaking," Finn said.

Rebekah didn't seem to hear him. "Let's go and tell the others. All of us have to be there!"

A few hours later they were stamping through the uncut meadow that spread across the field behind the castle. It was still dark. Rebekah made them hurry so they'd get to wherever she wanted them to go. Still they were terribly slow. Rebekah was in front of them, occasionally turning back to remind the others to keep up. Next to her was Finn, smiling. Together with Nik and Flora, Elijah made out the middle part of their walking trail. Flora had some trouble keeping up, but insisted on being fine. Elijah heard Kol laughing behind him.

He looked back. Briony had fallen over and sat in the grass, while Kol stood next to her.

"Why are we even walking through this mud?" Briony giggled. "This is the stupidest idea anyone ever had."

"I'm right there with you, love. I'd rather be inside, too," Kol laughed.

"Hurry up," Rebekah shouted from the front.

Elijah walked back to Kol and Briony.

"Let's get going," he said.

"Have some patience with the mortals, Elijah! My legs just don't work as well as yours!" Briony replied while raising her arms.

Elijah lifted her up by the shoulders. "That could be. But if we don't do what Rebekah tells us she'll find a way to kill us all."

It took them another few minutes and they reached an opening of the meadow that led to the shore of a wide lake. The water was deep dark, but the sky above already began to brighten up from black to a dark blue.

"And now everyone sit down and enjoy this," Rebekah said and placed herself on the ground. The others did as they were told. It soon became clear why Rebekah had chosen this particular spot. On the other side of the lake they had a particular wide view into the distance. The oncoming light reflected on the glimmering surface of the lake and spread ever closer to them. They sat in silence as the sky slowly turned into a dark pink.

"Isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" Rebekah said.

None of them replied. For a while they all looked at the fading pink across the lake.

"I think this is a good moment to call it," Briony yawned when the sky almost had reached daylight.

"What?" Rebekah replied surprised. "You can't leave now!"

"I think I have a fly in my mouth," Kol said.

"Normal people have to sleep sometimes. Sorry," Briony replied.

Rebekah sighed loudly. Then she turned to Flora: "You're not leaving as well, are you?"

She grabbed Flora's arms and looked at her intensely.

"No," Flora shook her head. "Definitely not."

After Kol and Briony had left they walked along the river bank. It was still unusually dark. The trees along the shore made the day darker than it was supposed to be.

"That sounds almost peaceful," Finn said.

Elijah had been telling him what they had been doing in the last one hundred or so years.

"Ups and downs," Elijah replied. "But the last fifty years had been rather quiet, yes."

He was almost a bit proud of his siblings for not messing anything up. The last night had been fun. Maybe this and his retellings of the last years would be proof enough that they could be good. Maybe it was enough to persuade Finn to stay a little longer.

"Stop throwing rocks, Rebekah. You're being childish!" he heard Nik saying with laugh.

Nik, Rebekah and Flora had fallen behind on the way. They had discovered an old pier that spread out onto the lake. Rebekah kept pushing Nik further out on the pier. The structure didn't seem to hold much anymore. But Elijah wouldn't care if either Nik or Rebekah fell into the lake. Maybe that would finally convince Rebekah to go back home. Elijah and Finn let their siblings be and walked on. They didn't talk. Elijah didn't know what else to say. He wanted to ask Finn if he changed his mind. But somehow he feared that would put him off.

"So," Elijah asked carefully. "Do you already know where you want to go?"

Finn didn't reply. Instead he stared into the dark mellow water in front of them.

"Don't you smell it?" he said.

"What?" Elijah asked.

"The blood," he replied.

Elijah looked into the dark water as well. There was nothing he could recognize. With one struck he realized what Finn meant. A smell of blood crept up his nostrils and it definitely came from the water. Confused he looked back at Finn, but he seemed perplexed about it as well.

He looked back and saw that Nik and Rebekah were still at the edge of the pier. No one else was there.

It took Elijah a moment to put it together. Then it hit him with a blow. Without losing any time he rushed into the water. Although it had dawned in the meantime the water was dark, too dark to see anything beneath the surface. Elijah felt the seaweed tangling around his legs. This didn't help much with the visibility of the water either. He moved into the deeper water until it was too deep to stand. He dived into it, not knowing where to look. The blood had dissolved to much to find the source of it.

Without a destination in mind he searched in every direction. He was lucky. Suddenly his hands touched something that felt like skin. He grabbed it. It was Flora's arm. He pulled her up to the surface. He wasn't far from the shore and pulled her back towards it. Before he reached it Rebekah had caught up with him, and pulled Flora out of his arms. Together they swam back to the shore.

Rebekah pulled Flora out of the water and carefully placed her in the grass. Flora was dead pale. She wasn't breathing.

"Is she dead?" Nik asked.

Rebekah touched Flora's face and inspected it.

"Not yet. She must have hit her head. It's bleeding."

"She lost a lot of blood. She's dying," Finn said.

"She cannot die!" Rebekah screamed while still holding Flora's head. Her hands trembled. Elijah saw the panic rising in her expression.

"She won't, Rebekah!" he insisted.

He pushed Rebekah to the side. Then, with a swift but strong hit he pushed into Flora's chest. She gurgled water out of her mouth but besides that didn't make any movements. A split second later Elijah had ripped his wrist open and blood dropped into Flora's mouth. She didn't wake up, but the bleeding on her head stopped. Elijah figured it would take a few hours until her body would heal completely and she would wake up.

"She'll be fine," Rebekah whispered.

* * *

 _Disclaimer: Some themes and some of the dialogue of the past chapter I took from the Marie Antoinette (2005) movie._


	12. The Witch Among Vampires

_**Present Day**_

"You almost died, Marcel!" Davina repeated.

"Stop saying that," Marcel replied. "I didn't almost die. I'm fine."

They stood in a room on the ground floor of the mansion. From the furniture Davina could tell that somebody had used it as an office at some point. Now it was filled with the boxes of Briony's notes that somebody had carried down in the mean time.

"You got bitten by a werewolf, which in literally any other given situation means that you would have died. You almost died!"

Davina couldn't understand how unconcerned Marcel was about the previous events.

"That's true. But as you said, the situation's changed. When Nik is around I don't have to worry about dying from werewolf bites."

They had this conversation before. Somehow it was hard for Davina to wrap her head around these new circumstances. Was Marcel taking his safety for granted because the Original vampires were here now? In Davina's eyes, their presence just made them less safe. She didn't feel threatened by the Originals, but after what she had done she was sure there was more than one person in the coven who wanted her dead.

She hadn't gone upstairs since she had placed the spell to confine Freya. It was quiet up there. At least this meant that nobody was torturing her. Shame came over Davina. She never regretted turning her back to the coven but the most recent events left a bitter taste in her mouth. Davina thought back on how easy it was to point the finger towards the witches and watch them die. She hadn't hesitated for a second. No, she hadn't cared about them at all. Not even Louis, who she had nothing against. She had pretty much given him a death sentence. Luckily Rebekah had changed her mind. Davina was eternally grateful for that. And even Freya had nothing to do with her quarrel with the coven. Before this whole Original deal she had barely known her. Who knew if she actually deserved this.

"Are you still reading the notes?" Marcel asked conversationally.

She could tell he wanted to change the subject.

Since the Originals had arrived, Davina spent a lot of time at the mansion because Marcel was there too. The office was her favourite room. She spent all her time reading the notes and diaries of the witch that knew about blood spells. Davina hadn't exactly asked if she was allowed to read them. But nobody had stopped her either. Davina figured that this was the best approach in many questions regarding the Originals. If they were against you doing something they'd make sure you knew it. Besides that she didn't see any reason why she should ask permission for anything.

Briony's notes were by no means complete. Davina tried to sort them chronologically but whole decades were missing. Maybe somebody had taken away some booklets, but there was no way to tell after all those years. And the notes ended in 1925, but it wasn't hard to figure out why.

Somehow the notes calmed her. It was soothing to read about someone who was in a somewhat similar position. A witch among vampires. Davina shook at the thought that she might end up the same. She wasn't worried about death, but being stuck with those vampires for her whole long life was a terrible thought. She liked Marcel, yes, but in him she primarily saw a decent person. And not someone who only used her as a weapon.

"Yes," she replied.

"Are you looking for something particular?" he asked.

The truth was the notes had also awoken an ambition in her that she didn't know before. Reading about all those spells and hexes made her want to know more about witchcraft. To be that powerful must feel good. But with her skills alone and without anyone who could teach her that was almost impossible.

"Did you know her well?" Davina asked, her thoughts still stuck with the impossible task of learning these spells.

"You could say that," Marcel said with a smile. "I loved spending time with her and Kol when I was a kid. They always had ideas for new games to play. It never got boring with them."

Marcel's eyes drifted across the pages and got lost somewhere in the distance.

"What I don't understand is," Davina began slowly, "how can you be okay with the fact that Niklaus just killed her like that?"

Marcel looked up again. "It's not that simple. If he didn't kill her, she would have killed him."

Davina rummaged through the notes in front of them, anything to avoid eye contact.

"Maybe she had a point, you know," she replied quietly.

Marcel put the notes in his hands down. He struggled to find the words for a reply.

"Davina, if it wasn't for Niklaus I wouldn't have survived my teens. Everything I am and everything I have is because of him. He is the only family I've got."

Davina didn't answer. She saw there was no use in arguing about this with Marcel. A damp feeling in her stomach remained. She turned back to her notes and tried to focus on them. Marcel didn't seem to be interested in picking up the conversation either. So they sat in awkward silence. She couldn't explain why Marcel didn't leave the room. He could go wherever he liked in the house, but something held him back. They didn't speak for the rest of the hour.

Eventually the door opened. Niklaus entered the room. He shortly observed the insides of the three boxes that were shattered around the room, but didn't comment on it. Instead he said:

"I thought you might be interested in the course of action."

"Did Freya say anything?" Marcel asked.

Nik shook his head. "The course of action regarding the werewolves."

Then he added: "We want to know what they want."

"How?"

"We're going to the Bayou tomorrow and pay them a visit," Nik said.

"When are we going?" Marcel asked.

"You can't go!" Davina interrupted. Being angry at Marcel was one thing. But she certainly didn't want him to get bitten by a werewolf again.

She turned to Nik: "Tell him he can't go!"

"What?" Marcel said, slightly irritated.

"The last time you met the werewolves YOU ALMOST DIED!"

"I didn't-" Marcel tried to say, but Nik interrupted him.

"She's right actually. It wouldn't be a good idea. You're not much use when they bite you."

"Thank you," Davina exclaimed and gave Marcel a firm look.

It was an odd feeling to be grateful to someone who she just had wished dead. When talking to Nik in person she didn't find him much intimidating. It was hard to imagine he was the same person that killed all those people and generally radiated fear. She could see why Marcel liked him. Still, she wasn't Marcel and she couldn't have the same trust as he did.

"Fine," Marcel gave in.

"Someone has to watch Freya anyway when we are gone," Nik added.

As the evening came and Davina finally stepped out of the mansion to head home she sighed with relief. The air between her and Marcel had gotten icy after their conversation and she didn't like it. So far she felt like she could always count on him in every possible matter. But since the Originals had returned it seemed as if she degraded into second place. That fact alone didn't bother her much. The problem was that it felt like she had put much more at stake than they had. She had betrayed her whole kin. And unlike them she could still die. It didn't seem fair. Davina had never thought about morals before, but now she realized that she had some. Did she want to be friends with someone who just killed anyone, even an ally, who bothered them? Would Marcel be okay with it if Niklaus decided to kill her as well?

* * *

 _ **1750, Northern France**_

The floor boards cracking had awoken Briony. She couldn't tell if it was still morning or already afternoon. Whatever time it was, it was too early to wake up. Keeping her eyes closed she decided to fall asleep again. The floor board cracked again.

"Kol, don't do that," Briony said, her eyes still closed.

"Not exactly Kol," she heard a female voice saying.

Immediately Briony sprung up and turned around. At the same time, without even fully realizing, she had already raised her right hand. Katherine was thrown across the room and smashed against the wall. After a few seconds Katherine stumbled herself up.

"I see you weren't kidding about your powers," she said while reattaining her dress.

"What are you doing here?" Briony asked in shock.

Katherine still looked the same as she had 10 years earlier.

The first time she had met her in Leiden Katherine had disappeared so quickly Briony almost hadn't enough time to register her looks. Still, the second time Briony had seen her, about five years later, Katherine had immediately recognized her. Briony didn't have to say anything. All they did was nodding at each other and Katherine had disappeared again. The third time was similar. Briony believed she had even seen a short graceful smile in Katherine's face.

The fourth time Katherine hadn't left immediately.

She had waited until Briony was close and asked her: "Why are you helping me?"

"We don't have time for this," Briony had said shortly.

After a short hesitation Katherine had left anyway.

It had gotten harder to find excuses to be alone just the moment they were close to Katherine. And Briony didn't want to spend more time on it as absolutely necessary. She didn't believe that Nik had ever gotten suspicious, and she wanted to keep it that way.

After their last encounter Briony had already expected that Katherine wouldn't be satisfied with the answer she had given her. But she had never thought she would be that daring to actually to come to her. Not when she was surrounded by everyone who wanted to kill her.

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Just thought I popped by to say hi."

Briony didn't reply but observed her like a hawk. She didn't know where Kol or the rest of his siblings were. And she hoped that nobody had heard Katherine's crash against the wall. Quiet but ready she kept sitting in her bed and watched Katherine.

"Alright," Katherine said after she realized that Briony wouldn't reply. "Let's get right to the point. I wanna know why you're helping me."

"This is why you're here?" Briony asked. "Instead of just being thankful, you do the opposite and come here? You have to admit that's pretty stupid."

Katherine eyed her for a moment. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not here to create a bond of friendship. But I need to know why you keep helping me. I've watched you. You've been with the Mikaelsons for a while now. Sleeping with one of them. Classy. Helping them occasionally. But none of that explains why you're helping me."

Briony just wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible.

"Fine. Short version: Nik tricked me into helping him. I don't like being tricked. That's why I'm helping and sabotaging him at the same time."

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"I've already been told I'm being petty," Briony replied.

"You don't hate him," Katherine said.

Briony couldn't explain how she came to that conclusion. But she knew what Katherine wanted to know.

"It wouldn't change anything for Nik if he killed you. I'm doing him a favour," she said.

"I'm sure he appreciates it."

Briony pulled up her knees to her chest. "This is not the reason you're here."

"It isn't?" Katherine asked, careful to not show any emotions.

"I have no idea why you are prolonging this stay so much. But if that's all you wanted to know you would have already left. Because both you and I know someone could come in here any second."

Katherine didn't reply. For a second she glanced over to the door.

"Well?" Briony asked.

Katherine stood there on the spot, observing her. Her fingers traced the edge of the drawer behind her.

"I want to see Elijah," she said shortly.

"What?" Briony replied in surprised. "Why?"

"That's not any of your business," she replied.

"Oh really. But you want me to help you," Briony replied mockingly.

Katherine's eyes narrowed. "I want to talk to him."

"No," Briony said shortly.

"You can't just decide that," Katherine said, slightly agitated.

"Yes, I can. Trust me, that's a terrible idea."

Katherine took a step closer to the bed. "You're helping me."

"No!" Briony said again. "If you wanna talk to him, go find him yourself. The last time I saw him he was outside with Nik and Rebekah. I'm sure they'll be delighted to see you."

Briony could tell that the comment made Katherine angry, but she tried hard to keep a callous face.

With crossed arms Katherine replied: "What do you think will happen if I told them that you've been helping me in the last 50 years?"

Briony bit her lip. "I'm quite positive that I can protect myself. Are you too?"

They stared at each other.

After what felt like an eternity of staring, Katherine said: "Mark my words, this will bite you in the neck one day."

Briony wasn't sure if Katherine meant the situation with Nik or the one with Elijah. She didn't have time to think about it as Katherine walked over to the door and opened it. With a last glare she left the room. Briony leaped out of the bed and rushed after her.

"Wait!" she shouted as she reached the door.

The corridor was empty. She rushed into the one direction she thought was more likely and almost crushed into Kol. He grabbed her, preventing her from stumbling.

"Are you looking for me?" he said with a smile.

"Where did you just come from?" Briony asked, trying to figure where Katherine might have gone.

She looked into both directions of the corridor. Both were still empty.

"So you weren't looking for me while you're running through the corridor almost naked. I have to admit, that makes me a bit jealous."

"Are you alone? Where are the others?" Briony asked him.

"They're outside. Quite preoccupied. Why, what happened?" Kol asked, realizing that she was serious.

"Katherine was here," she said with a hushed voice.

Kol didn't have a chance to reply. A high-pitched scream droned through the corridor that came from one of the nearby rooms.

Kol grabbed Briony and rushed to the source of the scream. They were too late. One of the maids was spread across the carpet. She was pale and her eyes stood wide open. Two red gashes exposed the insides of her neck. It looked like Katherine had ripped her neck apart. Briony kneeled down next to her. It was no use. She could already tell they couldn't help her anymore.

She looked up to Kol in fear. They exchanged a perplexed look.

A few seconds later the door smashed open and Nik and Finn entered. They looked down on the body lying on the bloody carpet.

"What happened?!" Nik asked.

Briony didn't know what to say.

"It was me," Kol suddenly said.

Briony turned to him in shock. Immediately Kol grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up. She knew he wanted to tell her to shut up.

"What?" Nik asked surprised.

"Yup," he said. "I killed her."

His brothers looked at him in disbelief. A second later Rebekah and Elijah came inside the room. Rebekah let out a loud gasp as she saw the maid. She already had red swollen eyes, but Briony didn't know why.

"What on earth is wrong with you guys?!" she shouted.

They all looked at each other with dismay. Soon Rebekah realized who was apparently at fault.

"You…" Rebekah turned to Kol, glaring at him.

She took a step towards him and pushed him.

"Beks, I-" Kol tried to say. It was no use. She pushed him again, but this time with all her force. He crashed into drawer behind. It splintered into thousands of pieces. A second later she was on him, scratching him, punching him, pulling his hair. Everything happened so fast, Briony couldn't do anything but watch them in shock.

"Stop it," Elijah said.

Rebekah didn't hear him and kept punching Kol with a piece of drawer.

"Rebekah, stop it!" Elijah said again.

She ignored him.

Nik grabbed her and pulled her off their brother. She reacted with kicks and screams.

Elijah lifted up Kol to a standing position.

"Get out, now," Elijah said and pushed him out of Rebekah's aim. Briony could tell though that he was angry at Kol too.

"This is what I was talking about," Briony heard Finn say coldly as Kol pulled her out of the door.

Kol pulled Briony by her arm into the hallway. He rushed to the bedroom. Briony had trouble keeping up, stumbling along the way. She glanced back to the others. They were out of view but she still heard shouting and discussing. She shut the bedroom door behind them.

Trying hard to keep her voice down she said: "What were you thinking?!"

Kol didn't reply. He swept out the blood out of his face. The wounds were already healing.

"Why did you tell them it was you?" she insisted, this time a bit louder.

"What else could we do? Did you want to tell them the truth?" he replied.

Briony didn't know what to say. Truth was she couldn't think of any way how this scenario could have turned out well.

"Trust me," he said, "it was the only way."

"Why? How?" Briony asked, still trying to make sense of this.

"Because now they're only angry at me. And they'll forgive me for killing some random maid."

Briony considered it for a moment. She had rarely seen Rebekah so heated, but he was probably right. Eventually she'd forgive him. But then there was the other thing that made Briony much angrier.

"We can't let Katherine get away with this!" she said agitated.

Putting together her plan she added: "We don't have to tell them why she was here. I can find her within an hour and I'll tell Nik-"

"No." Kol interrupted her, trying to sound calm. "I'm serious. It would raise too many questions. And they don't need another revenge plan. You were right, it won't change anything if Nik kills her. Let's just let it slide."

She heard his teeth gritting. It was clear it wasn't an easy decision for him either.

"But what about Finn? You guys tried so hard to impress him. Doesn't you taking the blame make everything more difficult?"

"It was already too late for that anyway," he replied.

He told her what had happened to Flora after they had left the night before.

When he was done Briony asked: "But she's fine now?"

"Yeah, she healed completely. Nothing to make a fuss about. But Finn is pretty angry about it."

"But it was an accident."

"He said we're treating human lives too carelessly." After a pause he added: "I guess the maid was the cherry on top."

Briony's stomach ached. Only a short while ago she was still asleep and everything seemed blissful. How could go so much wrong in such a short span of time?

"It's not your fault," Kol added, as he studied her struck face.

Briony wasn't so sure about that.

"Just to make things clear. We'll let it slide this once. But I'm not gonna protect Katherine any longer. The next time Nik asks me to look for her I'll find her."


	13. Werewolf Hideout

**Present Day**

It was the day of their journey to the Bayou. Marcel had told them of the Archards, brother and sister werewolves, who led the pack in the bayou. And if anyone would listen to them it was those two. Elijah, Rebekah and Nik had decided to take the car. That was Marcel's idea. According to him, the werewolves didn't like surprises and three vampires just appearing out of nowhere wouldn't make them very popular. And since the siblings had agreed to only talk to the werewolves this seemed the best plan.

Rebekah looked in the mirror and observed the fading red streaks on her shoulder.

"I'm not looking forward to encountering the werewolves again," she said.

The pain of the werewolf bite had long gone, but Rebekah hated the itchy rash that stayed behind for the days after. Marcel watched her, leaning against the doorway. She turned around to look at him instead.

"Are you checking me out, Marcel?" she asked.

"Maybe," he replied with a smirk. "Or maybe I'm just sharing your sorrows about werewolf bites."

"You should take my approach and instead of attacking them just try not to get bitten," he added.

"Because it worked so well for you last time?"

"Usually works well for me. Last time I got cocky because of you guys."

"Don't blame us for your flawed decisions," she laughed.

It took them a few hours until they reached the spot in the forest where Marcel had suggested they could encounter werewolves. Elijah slowed down the car until it came to a halt. They had stopped in the middle of the deserted road. It looked like few cars ever drove through there. Rebekah wondered how anyone could even live out here, so far off from civilization.

"Remember, we're trying to have a conversation. Don't unnecessarily provoke them," Elijah said while he observed the empty street in front of them.

Then he added: "But you know, stay ready. Just in case."

They inspected the road and the trees around them. Everything was quiet.

After a while, Nik said: "Let's get outside."

He opened the car door and the others followed him. Rebekah walked around the car and looked into all directions. A few moments passed and a man appeared from behind a tree. A second later two others stepped out of the darkness as well.

The three werewolves walked towards them. Silently Rebekah and her brothers watched them come closer. They looked like werewolves, Rebekah thought. All three of them looked unshaved, somewhat untidy. Rebekah figured this must be natural for people who spent most of their time in the swamp. A few steps before them the three werewolves stopped.

"What do you want?" one of them asked grimly.

"We wanna talk to the Archards."

"Talk?" the werewolf asked.

"Yes," Elijah said.

The werewolves exchanged looks with each other.

"Follow us," the werewolf replied.

Then he turned around and walked into the forest. The two others followed him without any comment. The siblings picked up their steps and walked behind them into the thickest.

For a while they walked in silence.

"Quite the conversational fellows," Rebekah said quietly to Nik.

One of the werewolves turned around and glared at her. He had a long scar on his neck.

"Sorry," she said. "No talking it is then."

"Hey," Nik spoke up and looked to the werewolf that turned around. "Have you ever considered becoming a hybrid? It's like being a werewolf but without all the drawbacks."

The werewolf didn't turn around, but his shoulders twitched.

"Can you not?" Elijah said to Nik.

"What do you expect?" Rebekah said. "Nik does have to ask every werewolf he meets. I was surprised he didn't ask the werewolf bodies on the street after he ripped their hearts out the other day."

"I don't ask 'every werewolf I meet,'" Nik said affronted, imitating Rebekah's tone.

"Let's not talk about werewolf bodies either, okay?" Elijah interrupted them.

"If you're finished chatting," the werewolf in the front suddenly said, "you can talk to the Archards now. We're here."

They looked up to the werewolf. They were standing in front of a tall shrub.

"Do they live in there?" Rebekah asked, slightly confused.

The werewolf shook his head. Then he pointed to the small trail that led around the shrub.

As if struck by their slow reaction, he said impatiently: "They live over there."

"Follow me," the werewolf with the scar replied with a sigh.

They followed him around the thickest until they reached a glade. A monstrous and tall house appeared in front of them. Its long glass facades went from the ground up to the ceiling and reflected the sunlight that shone through the tree leaves. A paved walk led up to the entrance door along a freshly mowed lawn. In the middle of the lawn stood a small fountain that trickled quietly. Rebekah was baffled. This is not what she thought a werewolf hideout would look like. They walked along the small paved road up to the house.

The werewolf opened the front door and led them into the entry hall. Everything was bright, shiny and clean.

A second later a tall woman appeared through a side door and straightly walked towards them.

"I am Celine Archard," she said. She stretched out her hand. In her whole appearance it looked like the whole thing was a business meeting to her and she had been expecting them for days.

Elijah took her hand hesitantly, and then introduced himself and his siblings.

Celine eyed them for a second, then said: "I've been told you want to talk. If that's true, good. We can gladly have a civilized conversation like adults. If you think you need to resort to violence I'd suggest you leave right now."

"We're not here to start a fight," Elijah replied.

"Good," Celine replied and her face lightened up a bit. "Follow me," she said.

She led them to room adjacent to the entrance.

A man was sitting in one of the sofa chairs. As they entered he stood up.

"This is my brother Bastien Archard."

Bastien was wearing a suit, just like his sister. Together they looked very professional. Rebekah never expected to feel underdressed in a situation involving werewolves. Bastien too shook their hands and then asked them to sit down.

"Why are you here then?" he asked, in almost conversational tone.

"We want to know why you attacked us," Nik said shortly.

"I'm not interested in playing games. So I'll tell you right out why we did what we did and what we want. And I'm really hoping you do the same," Bastien began. "This deal with the witches — it is new and let's say also a bit fragile. What convinced us to go through with it was you. You being here has become a threat to both our parties and it only seemed logical to help them to get rid of you."

"Why are you threatened by us?" Elijah asked.

"The centre of magical energy of course. That's why you are here, I suppose?"

"The what?" Elijah asked.

Bastien observed the three of them with critical eyes. Then he repeated: "The centre of magical energy in the woods close to the town border. The hotspot of magical power."

"What is that?" Nik asked again.

"It's a hotspot for magical power. Power just waiting for someone to use. If used properly it would be enough to even break the werewolf curse. We could turn whenever we like and wouldn't be ruled by the moon anymore. That's why we want it. We've been fighting over it with the coven for years now. Recently they suggested they'd be willing to share it equally if we helped them to get rid of you first."

After a pause, Bastien added: "And you're telling me, you're not here for this?"

They shook their head.

"Why are you here then?"

"A witch," Elijah said. "She has nothing to with that hotspot. We just wanted her."

Bastien and Celine exchanged looks.

"Even if that's true. Your little mission to retrieve that witch cost many lives," Celine said. "You're disturbing the balance in our town."

"We're not planning on staying long. We got the witch now and we we're not interested in staying much longer."

Again Bastien and Celine looked at each other.

"It would be an advantage if we didn't have to share the hotspot with the witches…" Celine said to him.

Bastien looked back to the siblings. "And we can't kill you in any case, which leaves only one sensible option…"

He considered them again.

"Fine," he suddenly said. "You have convinced me. We'll let you alone from now on if you agree to leave the hotspot to us and that you leave New Orleans relatively soon?"

"Sounds fair," Elijah said with a smile.

It had been surprisingly easy. Rebekah wondered why she had even dreaded coming here for so long. If she knew that the werewolves were so agreeable she would have talked to them sooner. After their agreement several other werewolves who were close to the Archards joined them. Some of them seemed genuinely interested in getting to know Rebekah and her brothers.

"I thought they were living in the swamp. I didn't expect this place to look so posh," Rebekah whispered to Nik.

"Me neither," Nik replied.

"And I didn't expect them to be so…" she continued.

"So much like Elijah?" Nik asked with a grin.

Rebekah then had been talking to a woman for a while who came from a long generation of werewolves. At one point the door opened and Bastien came in. Rebekah hadn't even noticed that he had left earlier. He walked over to Celine and said something to her. Rebekah just missed what he was saying. A second later Celine slowly walked over to the exit. Just the second she left she glanced over to Rebekah. She smiled. She seemed content. A second later she had left the room. Rebekah didn't know what it was but her thoughts remained on that last glance. Something was off. Rebekah's gut feeling told her that behind Celine's smile there was something else.

Without raising any attention to herself, Rebekah tried to follow Celine's footsteps in her head. It was loud in the house and she had trouble focusing.

She heard Celine talking to someone. It was an agitated conversation but Rebekah couldn't make out any words. She concentrated harder. They were talking fast. Then some of Celine's words sprang into her head. And there was no mistake on what they were.

"We can't let them leave."

Rebekah turned to her brothers, they were in a lively conversation with Bastien. She look back to the window front towards the glade. It was dark outside. But suddenly Rebekah saw a pair of eyes appearing between the trees. And another pair, and another one, until she realized that they were watched from all sides.

She rushed over to her brothers. Elijah was still talking to Bastien. Nik had moved on to talk to some of the other werewolves, probably trying to persuade them of his hybrid idea. She grabbed Nik's arm.

"We have to leave. Right now."

* * *

 **1750, Northern France**

"This is what I was talking about," Finn said.

Elijah rubbed his face. He looked back on the ground where the body of the maid still lay dead. Yup, she was still there. It didn't make any sense. How could this even happen? He turned back to Finn.

"You can't just deduce from Kol to the rest of us. He's a moron. That doesn't mean we all act irrationally."

Elijah wasn't even sure what he was trying to say. A part of him wanted to condemn Kol and another part wanted to defend him. But how could he do that without even understanding what had happened? It seemed such an odd thing for Kol to do. And then there was Finn. This was Elijah's biggest concern at the moment. The maid seemed to be the last straw for Finn to leave, and he wasn't sure if he can turn it around and persuade Finn to stay anyway. It was hard to focus with all that noise. Next to them Rebekah and Nik kept shouting at each other. Rebekah was still upset about what had happened and after Kol had left the room she had taken on shouting on Nik instead who had tried to hold her back before. Nik tried to calm her down by shouting back at her, which Elijah thought was a relatively useless. Still, it was better than Rebekah smashing more furniture.

"You didn't even care about her, Nik!" Rebekah shouted. "Even less than you cared about what happened to Flora last night!"

"Of course I don't care," Nik replied agitated. "I barely know either of them!"

Finn turned to them aghast. "And that's reason enough for them to die?"

He turned back to Elijah. " _This_ is exactly what I was talking about."

"Excuse me, but how is it my fault that Rebekah drowns her friend or that Kol decides to feed on the maid?" Nik replied angrily to Finn.

"It was an accident!" Rebekah screamed.

"Was it though?" Finn asked skeptically. "Or were you just careless with your so-called friend's life? What you did is no different from what Kol has done."

Rebekah started crying. Nik put a hand on her shoulder and took a step towards Finn.

"You should come down from your high horse. Just because you keep complaining about everything we do, you are not a better person than us."

"I'm pretty sure I am a better person than you, Niklaus. Starting with the fact that I don't run away from all my problems and actually face them."

Elijah already knew that Nik wouldn't take that well. Before he could reply, Elijah stepped between them.

"Can we get rid of this mess first, please?" Elijah asked.

He didn't know why he even bothered to try. Any hope that this reunion actually would work had fled. Rebekah, who apparently had calmed down a little after Finn's aggression towards Nik, nodded weakly.

"Yes, let's — " she began. But then she stopped dead still. Her eyes were fixed onto the door. They all turned to see what she looked at.

Flora stood in the doorway, her eyes fixed onto the body lying on the ground. When she saw that they were all looking at her, she turned around and ran off. Elijah couldn't quite explain why they all stood still and just let her go. Maybe because they all knew that now it literally couldn't get any worse. After a few moments Rebekah regained her thoughts.

"Wait," she shouted and rushed after her.

Elijah followed her. He caught up with them in the gallery above the entrance. Rebekah stood in some distance to Flora, who slowly backed away from her. Elijah stopped next to Rebekah.

"What are you people? What have you done?!" Flora gasped. Elijah could tell she was close to having a panic attack.

"Calm down, Flora," Rebekah said, trying to sound as calm as possible herself. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Is it true? Your brother killed the maid?" Flora said with a shaken voice.

"It's not what it sounds like," Rebekah replied.

To be fair to Flora, it was exactly what it sounded like, Elijah thought to himself.

"I can't believe you people did that!" Flora screamed.

"You have to understand - " Rebekah replied pleadingly.

"What is there to understand?" Flora interrupted her, her feet tumbling. "You are monsters!"

Elijah had never seen Rebekah to move so fast. In a blink of an eye she stood next to Flora and before he realized it she had already grabbed Flora and threw her over the balustrade. The moment Elijah reached Rebekah, Flora had already crashed onto the marble floor beneath them. He looked down on her in terror. She was dead. Or at least dead for now.

He turned to Rebekah. "Why did you do that?!"

Rebekah's eyes too were fixed on Flora's body lying in the entrance hall beneath her. Her face was hardened. She seemed unusually calm.

"It was the only way to make her understand."

Late in the afternoon they kept waiting for Flora to wake up. Elijah was dreading it. It would have been enough to convince Flora that she had seen nothing by compelling her, but Rebekah had to throw her over the balustrade. Now they had to deal with a new vampire instead. Elijah wasn't sure if he was angry at Rebekah, or at himself for not reacting fast enough. Or at Nik or Finn for making the problem about themselves. Or at Kol for just making everything worse. Why would Kol even do that? He had almost forgotten how odd he thought it was at first that Kol had killed that maid. Now it started to bug him again. He hadn't seen his brother since the events of the morning.

Elijah walked around the house, but instead of Kol he found Briony on the terrace. Somebody had made food for her, but it was clear that she wasn't interested in eating it. She barely registered him.

"Have you seen Kol?" he asked her.

She looked up weakly. "Inside I guess."

He hesitated for a moment, then walked closer to her.

"Kol didn't do it. It just doesn't make any sense," Elijah said.

He fixed his look on her. He couldn't read her expression though.

"Can we talk about this another time? I'm having a headache," Briony said and buried her head in her hands.

A second later Nik came outside the door. Elijah looked at him attentively.

"News?" he asked.

Nik shook his head. "Still dead."

He sat down at the table next to Briony and inspected her food.

"You are really not affected by this at all, aren't you?" Elijah asked him unbelievably.

Nik looked up.

"You mean the thing with Flora?" he asked. "Why should I? It looks like everything turned out well for her. She's a vampire now. I'm kinda impressed too that our sister actually went through with it and killed her."

Elijah sighed.

"And that Finn is leaving now, you don't care about that either?"

Nik's face hardened. "If he doesn't want to be with us that's not our problem."

"We could at least show some effort," Elijah replied.

"We did. And apparently we weren't good enough," Nik said, sarcastically.

Elijah couldn't let go of it just yet. He began again: "I mean what Rebekah did was stupid-"

He broke off, as he saw Rebekah standing in the door. She looked terribly affronted.

"Any news?" he asked even so.

She shook her head.

Nik turned around to her. "Don't listen to him. What you did was great."

She sighed and sat down on the table as well, imitating Briony in her buried face position.

Nik stared into the distance.

"Briony, I was thinking…" Nik said suddenly.

"Yes?" Briony looked up eagerly.

Nik seemed somewhat taken aback by her sudden interest. "Maybe we should look more into vampires, after all."

"Oh," Briony replied, her interest fading.

"It won't make her any more alive, Nik," Rebekah snapped under her breath.

"That's not what I meant," he replied.

"What do you want to know then?" Briony asked.

"You know how the immortality spell worked. Why no one else ever did it. Something like that," Nik tried to explain.

That idea was nothing new to Elijah. There was this tendency to ask those questions when someone had just turned into a vampire. He wasn't sure what Nik was hoping to learn from it this time. The answer to why no one else ever tried to do it seemed to be because no one else could. Or because no one else was so stupid to try.

"That's all? Nothing else?" Briony asked again.

"Yes?" Nik replied, slightly confused.

"Fine," Briony said, somewhat disappointed. "I guess I can do that."

Then she got up and left the terrace. Nik looked after her bewildered.

"I mean it didn't have to be right this second," he said to himself.

They didn't have long to think about what she was up to, as they suddenly felt a movement from inside the house. Flora had woken up.

* * *

 _Author's note: To those nice people who asked me about more Klaus/Rebekah scenes. Sorry I didn't get through to do it in this chapter! But fear not, the next chapter will pretty much only be about those two!_


	14. In the Forest

**Present Day**

"We have to leave. Right now."

Nik looked at Rebekah in bewilderment. But she knew she could count on him in a moment like this. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the room. Not a second later the door opened and Celine and five other werewolves entered the room. At the same time Rebekah heard several car engines nearing outside. They were being surrounded. She and Nik exchanged a look. He registered all this as well. By now the situation also caught Elijah's attention and he moved to his siblings.

"It has come to our attention that you won't be able to hold up your end of the bargain," Celine said, who apparently read their suspicious expressions. "I am sorry it had to come to this."

Rebekah didn't understand what she meant. They had been here the whole time. How could anything change in their bargain? What was their end of the bargain?

Without any other warning the whole pack headed towards the three and attacked from all sides. A voice in Rebekah's head told her not to attack. Instead she jumped high onto a nearby book shelf. A werewolf jumped right after her but she kicked him down before he could get any closer. Several more went after her but she fought them off. At first she thought that her unusual move onto the top of the bookshelf was the reason she kept out of the biggest harm. But then she saw that the werewolves weren't as interested in her as they were in Nik. There were at least five times the amount of werewolves attacking him. He was the strongest of the three, but even with that in mind they were oddly fixated on him. As she watched him with one eye as she fought her own attackers off, worry began to rise in her. He was not on top of his game. They were way too many.

Rebekah jumped down and tried to get through to him. There were so many people now to fight off and more werewolves kept dropping in, ready to attack them. Again and again she felt the sharp pain of werewolf venom intruding her body. She didn't know how many she had killed or injured. Her mind was focused on getting to Nik and then getting out. Nik must have had the same idea. Slowly the mass of fighting people moved towards the window front. She couldn't see him anymore, but she knew that he had to be in between all those werewolves.

Again Rebekah ripped another werewolf out of the way and finally reached Nik at the bottom of the pile. He was bleeding heavily and barely awake. She grabbed him. It took her another few fights and punches until she reached the window front. With one big crash she busted through the glass. Then she ran as fast as she could, still holding on to Nik with one arm. She wasn't sure if he was even awake, but there was no time to check.

She accelerated her speed until they were alone in the safe darkness of forest. She felt the pain overcoming her again and she fell on her knees. Nik wasn't moving anymore. From further away she heard shouts and barks . Werewolves with their tracking skills. With her last use of strength she lifted herself up again and pulled up Nik. Again she ran as far as she could, this time much farther. Eventually after what felt like she had run over a whole mountain she stopped, let go of Nik, and then let herself fall down next of him. Face down she tried to hold up her head and watch their surroundings. She breathed heavily. All her limbs hurt terribly. Her head began to spin. _Stay awake,_ she told herself. _Don't let the hallucination take over you._

In her attempt to not pass out she focused on Nik. He was somewhat awake again, slowly moving. The bleeding was slowing down but his clothes and skin were already drenched in blood. It was his own, Rebekah could smell it. When he came back to his senses and saw that she was looking at him, he said:

"Where are we?"

"Forest. Far away."

They looked at each other. Rebekah didn't have the strength to get up again, so she only stared back at him. He didn't seem to be able to get up either.

Nik nodded slowly. "Where's Elijah?"

"I don't know," Rebekah admitted.

Until now she didn't have time to worry about her other brother. In the heat of the moment it had seemed that Nik was in more need of help. But now Rebekah began to worry. What if she had left Elijah in much worse situation? To be honest she couldn't even remember that she saw him after the fight broke out. Unlike Nik he had much less means of defence against the werewolves. She tried to shake off these thoughts. No, she wasn't allowed to start worrying. These were the kind of fears that could take over into hallucinations. Instead she focused on Nik again.

"Did they bite you in the neck?" she asked him, as she inspected his wounds from afar.

The wounds were very odd.

"Yes," Nik replied.

"Why would they do that?" she asked in surprise.

"No clue. You have to ask them."

"Maybe they understood the hybrid process wrong," she said with a weak smile.

"Funny," Nik said, as he tried to put weight on his elbows to sit up.

He failed and put his head back on the ground, still breathing heavily. Rebekah could tell he was in pain too, but he was much better at fighting it than her.

Nik said something but she somehow couldn't tell what it was. It sounded like he was far away.

Rebekah tried to reply to him but she was unable to speak out the words. The words in her head disappeared, the pain took over her body and she lost any sense of presence. Everything turned dark until the pain itself disappeared as well.

She was standing on a dry spot of grass surrounded by nothing but wide horizon. It was cold. A strange ringing drummed through her ears. She turned around on her spot until she saw them. Henrik was standing not far from her looking at her, confused. She tried to reach out to him, but the second she tried he fell over dead. She gasped. Finn appeared next to him. Again she raised her hand to grab him, but it was already too late. He fell dead the second she looked at him. A second later Kol and Elijah stood where her other brothers just were. She tried to scream for them but nothing but a grating noise came from her throat. She tried to get a hold of them, save them but they too crashed and died in front of their eyes. Again she tried to scream but nothing came out of her lungs. Was she dying too?

"Rebekah!" she heard.

It was dark. She felt numb.

She heard her name again. With great labour she opened her eyes. Her head was still spinning. Nik's concerned face appeared above her.

"Rebekah!" he said again.

She slowly came back to her senses. Still terrified of what just happened she tried to make sense of it.

"Are you awake?" she heard Nik's voice.

She tried to say yes, but what came out of her mouth sounded more like a blubbery grumble.

Nik sat her up, and she let him because she didn't have the strength to do otherwise. All her limbs felt like led and her head immediately fell onto her brother's chest to rest. She closed her eyes again. She felt like she was passing out again. A second later she felt his open wrist at her lips. His blood slowly trickled into her mouth and she drank it.

The pain lessened. At least the physical pain. Her mind was still back in the dream, going through all the brothers she couldn't save. This was enough to break the last bit of emotional strength she still had. A colossal lump built up in her throat and tears came rolling down her cheeks.

"It's not real, Rebekah," Nik said. "You've been hallucinating."

She must have been saying or shouting things in her dream state because Nik sounded like he knew too well what she just had experienced. The sad thing was though that these things were real. All of it had happened in some way.

How could it be that once they were six and now they were down to two? They were supposed to be immortal but now they were falling like flies. She felt terribly alone.

She pressed her head against Nik's chest. He put his arms around her and held her. She gripped tight around the only family she had left. The forest around them started to drizzle. Rebekah couldn't care less that it was raining. She closed her eyes shut. Maybe just maybe, for a second, she could forget that again their lives felt like they were breaking into shambles. She would have liked to stay like this longer but there were pressing matters that couldn't wait.

"Where are we?" she asked, when she had regained some strength.

"Still in the forest," Nik replied. "Just about 50 miles east from where we used to be. The werewolves kept following us for a while, but I think they gave up now."

Only now Rebekah realized that it was already dawning. She must have been out for much longer than she thought. Nik had completely healed in the meantime, but he was still full of his own dried blood.

"What about Elijah?" she asked, scared of to the answer.

Nik shook his head. "I keep trying to call him. He doesn't pick up." After a pause he said: "It's not like he hasn't found us before if needed. Rebekah, I'm pretty sure they got him."

"I was just waiting for you to wake up. I'll go back and get him and you go back to the mansion," he added.

"No!" she protested. "We're not splitting up."

"You're too weak to go back there," he replied.

"Do you remember what they did to you last night?" she said angrily. "You cannot possibly take them on by yourself!"

"What then?" he asked, slightly put off.

Rebekah thought about other possibilities. "Maybe Elijah couldn't find us and he went back to the mansion. He must have thought that they got us too. But he wouldn't just attack them himself. He'd go back and get Marcel first."

"True," Nik said slowly.

She knew he didn't like to postpone his attack any longer, but then hers seemed like a logical possibility. With that Nik took out his phone and called Marcel instead. Rebekah watched him waiting for a reply. After a minute he hung up.

"He's not picking up either."

They looked at each other. Now he was worried too. This was bad.

"What if," Nik formed the scenario in his head, "Elijah went back. But they followed him and he led them right to the mansion. And Marcel was there too."

Rebekah thought about this possible turn of events. She felt a shudder over her spine. While she didn't want neither Elijah nor Marcel to get hurt, only one of them would die after an encounter with a werewolf within a pretty short span of time. Nik seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

"We have to go to Marcel first," Nik said.

"Even if Elijah isn't there, he'll be fine," Rebekah said. "Right?"

"Yeah," Nik said. He didn't sound very convincing. "Right."

* * *

 **1750, Northern France**

There were people who got over the fact that they were turned into vampires rather quickly. Flora was not one of them. They had spent the next few days accommodating her, convincing her that she was going to be fine but she didn't listen. After Rebekah didn't have any success in calming her down, some of her brothers tried as well. At first Elijah thought it wouldn't be so hard. He had to admit that he had taken a liking to her when she was still human. But now that she didn't even want to look at him, it was hard to find any common ground anymore. Nik's attempt to talk to her had been so disastrous that he gave up after a few minutes. Elijah wasn't surprised by that one bit. Niklaus would probably be the last person to convince someone like Flora that a vampire is a good thing. And they hadn't seen Kol much since their fight. Elijah figured he was hiding from Rebekah.

After another failed attempt of talking to Flora Rebekah had joined Elijah and Nik on the terrace. Without a word she sat down and buried her face in her hands once more. Elijah didn't have to ask how it had gone. Nik had less tact to not ask.

"Enough persuasion for today then?" he asked her.

"Finn is talking to her right now," Rebekah said.

"Our Finn is trying to convince her how great it is as a vampire?" Nik said with a laugh.

Rebekah glared at him.

"You have to appreciate the irony in this," he replied.

"What does he want to tell her?" Elijah asked her genuinely.

"I don't know," Rebekah said. "But he offered to do it and there was no reason to turn him down."

Another few hours passed and Finn hadn't returned yet. The three siblings grew restless. Either it went really well or Finn just had become very stubborn and wouldn't leave Flora alone. After another half an hour Finn finally joined them on the terrace.

"How did it go?" Rebekah asked as she saw him enter.

"Okay, I'd say," Finn replied as he sat down next to her. He looked rather content.

They all looked at him in anticipation. He took the hint and began to recount what happened.

"She doesn't want to see any of you anymore I think. She feels like you deceived her the whole time you were here. And of course you were all in some way involved in her becoming a vampire. That doesn't sit well with her either. And I met her just a few days ago and had not much to do with her accident, I think that helps a bit."

Elijah could feel some undertones of smugness in Finn's tale and he felt how anger rose in him. Finn was there too when Flora almost drowned, but just because he decided not to help her makes him a better person now? Finn might have let her drown as a human, but Elijah questioned if Flora really thought that would have been better.

"What else did she say?" Rebekah asked.

"We talked about her fears and worries considering the whole situation. I said that even though she doesn't age anymore there are still means to die if that's what she wants, but she was strongly against it. I don't know if you know that about her but she's a very devout person and sees suicide as a big sin. I told her that even as a vampire she doesn't have to live a sinful life like you."

Elijah kept himself from gritting his teeth. Parts of him wanted to slap Finn really hard. Rebekah however seemed relieved that someone got through to Flora and didn't care about the insults. She asked more questions about Flora but Elijah stopped listening. He knew there would be more ways Finn could insult them and he didn't want to hear them. After a while Rebekah and Finn went inside. He looked after them, still angry. Only after a few seconds he realized that Nik was staring at him with a smirk.

"What?" Elijah asked. He didn't want to sound so gruff, but the conversation from before still had him on edge.

Nik observed him first, then said: "You're jealous."

For a second Elijah was caught off-guard and he didn't know what to say. Nik used the moment to reply to himself.

"This is an odd moment to evolve a crush in a girl I'd think. But you know, you have done stupider," Nik said with a laugh and got up.

He too went inside. Elijah considered stopping him and replying but before he had any smart remarks as a reply his brother had already left.

In the days following Finn talked more often to Flora. Elijah already had a dreaded idea where this was going. A few days later his theory was confirmed.

"I'm taking Flora with me," Finn announced to Rebekah, Elijah and Nik one morning.

"But where are you going?" Rebekah asked.

Elijah knew that she too wasn't fond of the idea of either Finn or Flora leaving.

Finn hesitated. "I personally think it's better if we don't get into details."

"You're not even telling us where you are going?" Elijah asked, now only barely hiding his anger.

"It's just unnecessary. The idea behind it is that we all have some time apart from each other. And that doesn't work when you come back looking for me in a year or so. Besides, if you really need to look for me, I'm sure your witch friend can find me."

Finn never made a secret out of his dislike for Briony, but this time Elijah couldn't but take this very personal. He gritted his teeth. This was humiliating. He began to regret that they even had unstaked Finn. Before that Elijah at least had a somewhat endearing picture of his brother. All this was gone now. Without any other word he turned around and left the room. Without a clear aim in mind he walked around the house until he eventually ended up on the terrace again. He walked to the balustrade and looked across the garden in front of him.

Kol trotted up the stairs to the terrace. When he saw Elijah he immediately stopped. His eyes were a bit puffy and he seemed to be surprised to meet Elijah there. Elijah knew he should say something but he wasn't in the mood for it. With a lowered head Kol passed by him, avoiding any eye contact. A second later he disappeared inside the house. Elijah looked after him but then turned back to the garden.

"What's going on with Kol?" Nik asked, who seemed to have followed Elijah.

Elijah didn't really care. Why did all his siblings have to make everything only about themselves?

"He seems upset," Nik added.

"Maybe feeling guilty about what happened after all?" Elijah replied cynically, while he kept his own on the garden.

He doubted that Kol was even capable of feeling guilty about something like that, but right now he couldn't be bothered about any of them.

"So," Nik stalled. "We're back to four?"

"Seriously, Nik. I'm not in the mood right now," Elijah snapped back.

"Okay," he replied, while walking up to him. Nik leaned on the balustrade next to him, so that he saw Elijah's face. "You rather wanna lament this sad situation by yourself then?"

"Just leave me alone," Elijah tried to ignore him.

"You're not in love with her, Elijah, if that's what's bothering you," Nik said, in a much sterner tone. "This has nothing to with Flora."

"What are you even talking about?" Elijah asked affronted. "Why should you know this better than I do?"

"You're angry that Finn was better at convincing her than you. That he, this pessimistic, uncharismatic, miserable human alike that we call brother, has more success in sweet talking, something that you think you're good at. You're angry that she chose him over you."

Elijah had a hard time to admit it but Nik hit a nerve.

"I -" Elijah began, but Nik interrupted him.

"And after all this time when we try to persuade him to stay with us, he even takes something that belongs to us with him."

"She's not a thing, Niklaus. And she doesn't belong to us."

"She was turned with your blood. Makes her more affiliated to you than to him, I'd say. Anyway, as I said, it's not about her. It's about the fact that he leaves us again although we all tried to keep him from leaving. And above that he chooses someone else, someone he just met a few days ago, to leave with him."

Elijah paused for a second. "I thought you said you didn't care if he leaves."

"Of course I care," Nik exclaimed. "Unlike you I have long given up hope that we can work it out with him. But of course I care."

Elijah considered his brother for a second. He still didn't agree on Nik's behaviour towards Finn in general, but maybe his approach wasn't so wrong after all. He wasn't ready to let go of Finn as a brother, but maybe he too had to accept that there was no way around it.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note: This by the way was one of my favourite chapters to write so far :-) Let me know what you think and what you want to read more of!_**


	15. 1002 Years

_**Present Day**_

Davina was sure, this was going to be the worst thing she would ever do.

Frantically she skimmed through the notebooks and sheets in the office. Those that seemed interesting and useful she put into her large bag that she had brought this evening. It had already gotten very heavy. But Davina was determined to leave nothing behind that might be useful later. On top of the pile on the table still lay a booklet that she kept ready for later. It was opened on a particular page with a spell that she was about to use. She dreaded it. She had never used a spell against Marcel before. Although it was a harmless one that wouldn't hurt him in the long term, she knew it would mean the end of their friendship. A part of her already regretted the decision she had made. But another part of her knew that their friendship had already been damaged when the Originals had walked through that door. The bag had reached its fullest extent. There was nothing more she could put in. Besides it was already so heavy that she could barely lift it. That was already bad enough to slow her down.

It was time to go through with her plan. She took a deep breath. She walked over to the booklet on the table. It was simple enough. There were some crystals involved. She got those during the day before she got here just after the Originals had left for the Bayou. All she had to do in order for the spell to complete was arrange the crystals in a circle big enough for Marcel walk through. As soon as he did he would fall into a deep sleep until the circle was broken. Davina figured that would be when the Originals came home the next day. That should be long enough for her to be gone, and short enough for Marcel to be fine. She really hoped that they wouldn't stall their return and let him lie here for much longer. A bad feeling came over her. She shook all those thoughts off - no time to think anymore, it was time to act.

The first part of her plan worked even smoother than expected. As quietly as possible she walked to the end of the hallway that led around the corner to the kitchen. There she set up the enchanted crystals around the corners of the space. She walked to the doorway of the kitchen and turned around. The crystals were barely visible. That was good enough.

"Marcel?" she said, knowing he would hear her wherever in the house he just was.

A second later he appeared in the hallway. He looked a bit distant, but they had been like this in the last few days.

"What is it?" he said, as he slowly walked towards her.

The second he passed the threshold of the crystals he fell. Davina doubted that he had even time to realize what just happened. She observed him for a moment. He just lay there, but he seemed fine. Then with swift steps she passed by him to the stairs.

Without turning back she marched straight up the stairs to the last room on the right where they kept Freya. She opened the door. Freya sat on the edge of the bed. Her face was a bit pale, but besides that she looked fine. When she saw that it was Davina she looked perplexed.

"The spell on this room has been lifted. Let's go," Davina said, while holding the door open for her.

Freya looked at her in bewilderment.

"Common, let's go!" Davina repeated.

"What is this?" Freya asked suspiciously.

"I'm helping you to get out. No time to ask questions. Get up!" she replied.

Freya got up and followed her to the door. Not quite believing it until she passed the threshold. Her eyes widened.

"Where are they?" she spoke in a low tone.

"The Bayou. None of them are here. We can just walk out. But quick!" Davina said, and ushered Freya down the stairs.

They hurried down the stairs, through the hallway and outside the door. Davina didn't dare to look back.

"What's in the bag?" Freya asked.

"Nothing," Davina replied quickly. "Just my stuff."

Without running but with fast steps they marched down the road until they reached the edge of the old town. Davina stopped.

"Now go off to wherever you wanna go. You're welcome," she said. She was about to go towards her own home, but Freya held her back.

"What? Why are you not coming with me?" Freya asked.

"Are you serious? Do you really think the coven wants to see me after everything that happened?" Davina said with a raised eyebrow.

"But that has changed now, hasn't it? You helped me. And I don't think you know how useful that just was for everyone," Freya replied.

She smiled a little. When Davina didn't reply, she added: "The enemies you made with this might be bigger than you imagine right now. I have a plan how we can stop them and if it works we need your help as well."

Davina had a pretty good idea of the enemies she just made, but she was intrigued by Freya's plan. Also she was surprised how Freya could have a plan only shortly after she had escaped from the mansion. She considered it for a moment. Even if she agreed to go, she would never go back to the coven for good. That was completely out of the question.

"For this plan to work we have to act fast," Freya added. "Just come with me to the coven and hear me out."

Reluctantly Davina agreed. Her own plan was to go home, grab the things she had already packed and take the next bus to Miami. She doubted that Freya's plan also included running away to a tropical climate.

As they reached House Voltaire the bar was still crowded. Davina was glad about that. They would barely kill her in front of all those costumers. With a tepid stomach she followed Freya into the bar. They walked up to the corner of the bar that led to the back office. Louis was standing there. As he looked up and saw Freya his face lightened up. The happy face disappeared a second later when he saw Davina.

"Freya!" he said, with a half-smiling face drawn between the two emotions, looking back and forth between the two. "You're back! How?"

"Escaped," she said.

He nodded, trying to make sense of it. Eventually his anger came through.

"I mean I'm happy to see you, but why is she here?" he nodded to Davina, yet ignoring her enough to look at her.

"It's not like that, Louis. She helped me escape! She's on our side now!"

"Oh, is she now? Did that happen after she basically told them to kill me?!"

Davina wanted to sink into a hole. It had been a terrible idea to come here. She stared at her feet, hoping that not more witches showed up whose deaths she had agreed to during that fight on the streets a few days earlier.

"That doesn't matter right now," Freya sounded surprisingly pragmatic. "There are things we have to talk about right now. I have a plan. It can't wait. Get the others to the back office."

Louis considered her for a second, then agreed with a grumble. He gave a nasty glare to Davina, then walked off.

"Common," Freya said to Davina.

She followed her around the bar into the back office. A second later an older witch appeared to a different door. Davina recognized her immediately. It was Jean, one of the leading witches. She was also one of the witches that initiated the harvest sacrifice that would have killed Davina in the course of action. Davina had a particular dislike for her, because she still was convinced that the failure of that sacrifice was somehow all Davina's fault. As their eyes crossed, Davina could feel the atmosphere in the room turn into ice. She was determined not to speak to her unless she had to.

Freya must have felt the intensity as well, and quickly began: "Jean, we don't have much time. We have a small window frame where we can actually do something against the Original vampires."

Jean's eyes were still fixed on Davina, but then she turned to Freya: "What is it?"

"I have a plan that can kill them. Truly kill them. But we need their blood."

"Why? What do you want to do with it?" Jean asked.

"First we get it. I'll explain as soon as everything is arranged."

"How are you planning to get it?" Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Right at this moment, they are in the bayou with the werewolves. Isn't that right, Davina?"

"Yes," Davina said hesitantly. "They went to talk to the Archards."

Jean's eyes lightened up. "You want the werewolves to get it."

Freya nodded.

Then she added: "But we have to contact them right now. Who knows how long they still got the chance to do it."

Jean who came around to the idea nodded too. "I can call them." And then she asked: "And all they need to get us is some blood from one of them?"

"Not just one of them," Freya replied. "We need Niklaus' blood."

* * *

 _ **1750, Northern France**_

Nik watched Finn and Flora from the window, as they walked off on the road that led away from the castle. Nobody had gone downstairs to send them off. Nik wasn't surprised by that. Both Elijah and Rebekah had gotten gloomy after the departure was announced and had ignored Finn and Flora altogether. He couldn't blame them. Nik had never expected Finn to reintegrate in the family, but Rebekah and Elijah still had had their naive hopes. And after what had happened, Nik knew that Finn had hurt them on a deeper level. Why Finn had even agreed to come here was a mystery to him, but Nik figured it could have only ended in a fight.

Kol on the other hand was a different story. Nik couldn't explain it. Kol, like the others, had been getting out of their way, avoiding any conversation with all his siblings for days. Elijah had suggested that he was conflicted about Finn leaving, or that he felt bad for being the catalyst for the whole thing in the first place. But Nik didn't think so. Right after Flora had been turned Kol had seemed fine. He hadn't been bothered by the whole deal. And he had never been as close to Finn as Elijah or Rebekah. But a few days later when Nik saw him again Kol looked visibly upset. Something was up. Nik had tried a few times to confront him, but Kol kept disappearing before he could even be in the same room as him. Neither Rebekah nor Elijah seemed to have noticed, so Niklaus felt like it was on him to find out.

After Finn had left, Nik again tried to find Kol. Nik soon realized that he was nowhere in the house. Instead he found Briony in the living room. When she saw him walking into the room, she winced. She, like Kol, looked somewhat upset. She gave a weak attempt to smile at him and tried to pass by him through the door. Nik held her back.

"Have you seen Kol?" he asked her.

"You just missed him. He went outside," she replied, avoiding his eyes.

He didn't let go of her arm. She tried to pull free for a second, but didn't put a lot of effort into it.

"Something's up," he shortly said. "What's going on?"

"I don't know what you mean," Briony said briskly, and tried again to get past him.

"You have done something to Kol. He's different," Nik replied.

Briony took offence from that accusation. "No, I haven't!"

"What have you done to Kol?" Nik asked again.

"Nothing," Briony replied determined.

After a pause she added, turning angry: "Everyone has a bad day once in a while."

She tried to leave again but Nik held her back.

"I'm pretty sure that's not it."

"What do you want, Nik?" she asked.

"There's something you're not telling me."

"There's nothing to tell you," Briony replied, slightly put off.

"Just tell me what you know," he insisted.

Briony hesitated. She struggled for words and looked back in his eyes. The anger in her eyes had faded. It was an odd change. She looked afraid.

"It's…" she began, but broke off again.

"Yes?" Nik asked.

Something in her face worried him. He saw that she didn't want to tell him out of spite, or to tease him. She was concerned about him.

Her voice sounded much thinner than before. "I did what you asked me to do. I looked into the whole vampire deal. I tried out some things with Kol's blood to find out more about that original spell."

"And?"

"What I found out was…" she paused. She scanned the room, as if that could give her a way out to not answer the question. Her eyes grew wider.

"Nik, the spell that your mother did - it wasn't an immortality spell."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She spoke very slowly. "It prolonged your lives, yes. But the spell doesn't hold up forever. It has an end date."

It took a moment for Nik to grasp what she was saying.

"You're not immortal," she added.

The words repeated themselves in his head. They didn't make any sense.

"What?" he said, not able to think of anything else to say.

Briony braced herself to repeat it. She fixed her eyes on him and she said with a slow voice: "You're all going to die."

This could not be. She must be messing with him. Why would she say something like this? Yet her face wasn't like someone's face who was messing.

"No," he replied.

She considered him with some wariness.

"I know this is a lot to take in-" she began, but he interrupted her.

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying, Nik!" Briony exclaimed. "You asked me to check and I did. These are the facts!"

A terrible hate rose in him and directed itself at Briony. How could she made up something like this?

"I don't know why we're putting up with you when-" he began angrily, but she cut him off.

"I'm not arguing with you about this!" she exclaimed. "Let's go find Kol then and he can tell you!"

No, this couldn't be true. Nik banned every thought of a possibility that this could have some truth in it from his mind. Briony was lying. That was the only thing that could be true. He pulled her by her arm outside to the terrace to look for Kol. Only half way there he realized that she hadn't resisted the whole time. She could have easily fought him off, but she let him pull her through the whole house. Nik pushed out any thought on why she didn't do anything. He just wanted to get to Kol as quickly as possible.

They found Kol at the bottom of the stairs to the garden. With fast steps Nik walked towards him. When he saw them, he immediately snapped at Nik.

"What on earth is wrong with you?!" he shouted, as he tore away Nik's hand from Briony's arm.

Nik was taken by surprise by this sudden reaction from Kol, since he hadn't spoken to him in days. He rubbed his hand. Kol had almost broken it.

"I told him," Briony said.

Kol looked from her to Nik, and his face turned from anger to fear. He hesitated, not knowing what to say. Nik considered Kol for a moment. It was clear that he was believing it.

"She's lying, Kol," he said.

"What?" Kol asked in surprise, as if that was the last thing on his mind. "No, she's not."

"Of course, she is," Nik exclaimed, and stepped closer to Kol. "This cannot be true."

Kol shook his head with disbelief. "I was there when she did the spell! It's true."

"She's messing with us," Nik repeated.

"And why would she lie about something like this?" Kol shouted back angrily. "What could she possibly gain from telling you that we're all going to die?!"

The last syllable ringed through Nik's ears. Kol's absolute determination that this was true threw an ice cold shudder down his spine. It scared him to see his brother like this. Could it be that after all these years they had made such a crucial mistake?

"But it can't…" he said again, not able to finish his sentence.

The doubts grew. He went through the previous conversation again. There was no reason for Briony to make it up. She could be a tease, but this wasn't like her at all. He could think of nothing that explained the lie. He pleadingly stared into his brother's eyes. They were a mixture of anger and desperation. He looked to Briony, whose head was lowered. There were tears in her eyes.

"I'm not lying," she said with a shaken voice.

Millions of thoughts began rushing through his head. Was it true? He thought back to the beginning after they had been turned. What did he actually know about the spell? What had they learnt over the years? They couldn't age, they couldn't be killed, but what if all this suddenly stopped? Was that possible?

The meaning of the words began to sink in. His knees felt weak. Slowly he sank onto the stairs. He observed his arms and legs. His whole body made the impression it was decomposing at this moment. He gulped. It felt like his lungs were in desperate need of air. He focused on his breathing for a moment. He couldn't remember the last time he did that.

"But…how long?" he heard his own voice getting thinner.

Briony didn't reply right ahead. After a few moments she said: "Roughly a thousand years in total. Probably a few years more."

"How long?" he asked again. He needed a number.

"I don't know," Briony replied with a frustrated impatience. "1002 years? Something like that."

"You're sure about this?" he asked her, fixing on her.

He expected her to roll her eyes or snort, something she usually did when he kept asking her the same questions. She didn't.

She simply said: "Yes."

"But that means…," his head began to spin again.

"You have about 250 years left to live."

* * *

 _Author's Note: I feel like everything up to this point was exposition. I'm happy you stuck with me up to this point! Let me know what you think and what you want to read more of :-)_


	16. Three White Chalk Lines

_**Little update: I realized I accidentally replaced Chapter 4 with Chapter 5 a while back. I fixed that now - so in case you feel like you missed sth in the beginning, check out Chapter 4 and see if you already read that one :-)**_

* * *

 **Present Day**

As they walked up to the mansion, Rebekah still had a numb feeling in her stomach. Except the red streaks all over her body, her wounds had healed. She felt terrible nevertheless. Those stupid hallucinations always left behind the biggest marks.

The house looked just like they left it. No visible sign of a fight. Rebekah wasn't sure if that was a good sign. The entrance door was shut.

"I'm going to murder him if he just forgot to look at his phone," Nik mumbled, as he walked up to the door and opened it.

Rebekah followed him, tired. She knew that they had to check Marcel first because he might be dying. But with every step further away from the Bayou her fear for Elijah grew bigger. What if they had left him to a much worse fate?

They entered the house. The second they passed the threshold Rebekah realized it was way too quiet. Nik noticed it too. Just as the outside, everything looked as usual. No fight. But something was wrong, Rebekah was sure of it. They looked at each other, then up the stairs. Nik rushed upstairs and a second later, she heard him speak from the upper floor.

"Freya's gone."

Great, Rebekah thought. The day just kept getting better. Her eyes quickly searched the all the doorways and windows. Nothing seemed out of place. With quick steps she moved down the hallway. As she turned around the corner, she suddenly saw him. Marcel was lying in one corner, unconscious.

"Nik!" she shouted.

She was just about to step to Marcel and lift him up when she saw a crystal lying in one corner of the hallway. She stopped. She looked around for more crystals and saw more of them. They all circled him.

A second later Nik stood next to her. He too wanted to get to Marcel.

"Watch out!" Rebekah shouted, and held Nik back.

She nodded to the crystals that were lying on the ground.

"This doesn't look like a werewolf's doing to me," Nik said, and he kicked one of the crystals away from its spot. Immediately Marcel began to move.

He quickly came back to his senses and Rebekah lifted him up on his shoulders. He looked at them groggily but worried.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Nik replied, as he too looked around for more clues. "Freya's gone."

Marcel eyes moved back forth, trying to make sense of this information. Then his face sank.

"It was Davina," he said quietly.

"What?" Rebekah said in surprise.

She didn't expect that. So far Davina had seemed reliable.

"I saw her before I fell over. It must have been her spell," he said. He looked at the crystals that still lay on the ground. Then after a pause he added confused: "I can't believe she did that."

"You said we could trust her!" Nik said angrily, and pushed Marcel on the chest.

"I know!" Marcel replied heatedly, standing his ground. He obviously had trouble to wrap around his head around the fact. "I thought we could!"

His eyes sank to the ground. Rebekah looked back and forth between him and her brother.

"She probably never was on our side and just waited for a moment to free Freya!" Nik replied with anger.

"Now wait a moment, that doesn't make any sense! If she never was on our side she wouldn't have helped us to capture Freya, would she?" Marcel replied loudly.

Rebekah wasn't sure why he defended her now, but what he said was true. Why would Davina leave now after she helped them so much?

"He's right, it doesn't make any sense. After everything she had done I doubt the coven would take her back," Rebekah weighed in, trying to sound calm. At least one of them should sound calm, she thought.

"Until now, that she freed Freya. And now that she knows way too much about us and can tell that information to the coven!" Nik replied. "How could you do that to us?"

Marcel shook his head slowly. "I don't know what to say. I'm sorry, okay?"

Nik just grumbled and glared at him. Then he turned away.

"What happened to you guys? Where's Elijah?" Marcel said after a pause.

Rebekah remembered that their clothes were still torn and she had red streaks all over her. And Nik was still covered in his own dried blood. She wearily filled him in on what happened the night before. He looked at her with widened eyes.

When she was done with her story he asked Nik: "And what did they do to you? Whose blood is that?"

"It's mine," Nik replied. "I don't know what they were trying to do."

"We think they might have tried to weaken him… by draining him or something like that," Rebekah added.

"It didn't work though," Nik replied, with a suppressed smile.

Marcel thought about what they just told him for a moment.

Then he asked: "What made the Blanchards change their minds? Why did the werewolves suddenly turn against you?"

Nik shook his head. "I don't know. They said something about that we couldn't hold up our end of the bargain. And then they attacked us."

Rebekah's face lit up. "But of course, that's it! They must have known that Freya had escaped. She was our end of the bargain. With her being escaped they knew that we would stay longer in town than we agreed to."

"How did they know she escaped?" Nik asked.

"The witches must have contacted them," she added.

Marcel nodded.

"So now what? That was enough to declare us sworn enemies again? Unbelievable werewolves," Nik grumbled.

"We have to help Elijah," Rebekah pleaded. She didn't want to imagine what they could do to him.

"I'd say we-" Marcel stopped abruptly. His eyes were fixed into the distance as if he just realized something. He looked worried.

"Wait," he said and rushed away. Rebekah and Nik exchanged a look and then followed him. The caught up with him in the office.

They found Marcel staring at the boxes. Rebekah immediately saw what the problem was. They were much emptier than the last time she saw them.

"I hate to make this situation even worse. But I'm pretty sure Davina took those with her," Marcel said quietly.

Nik struggled hard to keep it together. "Who even allowed her to look at those books?" he said with gritted teeth.

He turned to Marcel, but Rebekah stood in front of him.

"It was me, okay? I didn't think it was a big deal. I thought reading them might keep her with us," she shouted. That wasn't completely true. But it was better when Nik's rage was directed towards her instead of Marcel.

"You thought reading those notebooks would convince her to stay with us? Obviously you thought wrong, didn't you?" he said with a sneer.

"Don't be so condescending, Nik. We have bigger problems right now."

"Don't you see that this is a huge part of the problem?! She'll use it to convince the coven to trust her again. We just gave the coven our whole life story, including all our weaknesses! It is only a matter of time until they'll use it against us! We should have burnt the whole thing a long time ago!"

"Fine, then we'll get it back. No big deal!" Rebekah replied.

She expected Nik to retort something mean again, but he didn't. She saw that he was already working on a plan. He traced up und down the room.

"Freya knows way too much about us right now," he said. "And she made it clear that she's not going to cooperate. We need to get her back here right now. And the books, or destroy them while we're at it."

"Nik, Elijah might be dying right now!" Rebekah urged him.

"What are we going to do first?" Marcel asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Either they could save Elijah, or they might run into danger of giving the witches enough power to kill them all. Rebekah didn't understand how they were still fighting about this. Right now she didn't care about those books or Freya. While they were fighting here Elijah could already be dying. She wanted him back.

"This isn't a question, is it?" Rebekah asked. "Obviously we're going for Elijah first."

Nik nodded contemptuously. "You're right."

He stared at the half empty boxes with anger.

"We can worry about Freya later."

* * *

 _ **1750, Northern France**_

Nik and Briony had been fighting about the fact that he was going to die for the next few days. Nik swung back and forth between times of realization and absolute desperation and times where he suppressed those feelings and confronted Briony of lying again. Every time he went back to realization the truth hit him again in the face with full force. It wouldn't get better. They were going to die.

"This is ridiculous, Nik," Kol shouted at him. "Do you wanna spend the next 200 years arguing about this?!"

They still hadn't told Rebekah and Elijah about their fate. Nik knew it was inevitable.

"Do you think I'll just believe whatever she tells me. I'm not going to believe it until I see it with my own eyes!" Nik shouted back.

"We're not going to do the whole spell again, just because you're a moody-" Kol shouted back.

"It's fine," Briony interrupted him. "If that's what's necessary to convince him I'll do it. Anything to get over this useless discussion and we can get on with it."

Without saying anything else Briony left to get some things and they met in the dining room again. They sat down around the table. She placed a big flat silver plate in front of them and drew three white lines with chalk on it.

"For demonstrational purposes I'll also use my blood and the blood of that cat that kept running around on the terrace. So you'll have some point of reference."

The cat blood she took from a flask and dripped it onto the end of the chalk line on the left. Then she cut her own hand let it drop onto the end of the line in the middle.

"Now I need your blood," she said and held out her hand.

Reluctantly Nik held out his. She took it and cut into his palm. His blood fell onto the line on the right.

"The spell works like this: it shows how long the living being already has lived and how long it's going to live. That is without any outside interference. It shows you how long you would live if you died of old age so to say, without anyone murdering you. At first the drop of blood extends in a circle. That tells you how old the living being is. You see, the blood drop of the cat is tiny, because it's only a few years old. Mine is already much bigger, being over 80 years already. But yours keeps extending since you're much older."

Nik observed the droplets on the plate. His was by far the biggest. Eventually it stopped extending.

"Now, if I do this -" Briony did a weird hand movement over the plate. "The blood begins to move along the white lines. The cat blood will stop pretty quickly, because the cat won't get much older than 10 years at most."

The cat blood did indeed stop. A short red line on the white chalk stayed behind.

"The other two however will keep growing. I'm estimating my own death in about 300 or 350 years. See what happens now."

They both concentrated on the two lines on the white chalk. Both kept growing steadily side by side. Until, out of nowhere, Nik's suddenly slowed down. It came to a halt. He stared at his own blood line. Why wasn't it moving? From the corner of his eye he saw that Briony's was still extending. He looked back and forth between his own line that didn't move anymore and hers that kept extending. A short while later hers stopped as well, but had reached a much greater length. They sat in silence. So this was it.

"Same happened with Kol's blood. You're going to die before me," Briony said in an almost unhearable voice. This fact seemed to torture her as well.

What came was easily Nik's least favourite day of his entire life. Wrapping his head around his own inevitable death was terrible enough for Nik, but telling the rest of siblings about it was even worse.

They gathered in the living room on the same evening. Nik wasn't sure why he did that, but he tried to not be suspicious when lured them into the living room. As if that would make it easier, when he dropped the truth bomb later. He could tell they already knew something was up.

"Has this to do with Flora?" Rebekah asked.

"What?" Nik asked confused. He had completely forgotten about anything that had happened in the days leading up to this point.

"No," he said. "None of this matters anymore!" He didn't want to sound so angry, but Rebekah's problems seemed so non-existent now.

"The thing is…" he said hesitantly.

This was harder than he thought. Now he understood why it took Kol and Briony so long to tell anyone.

"We're going to die," Kol said bluntly.

Elijah and Rebekah exchanged confused looks. Again Nik began to explain, and this time he managed to tell the whole story. When he was done, Kol confirmed it. Both Elijah and Rebekah looked back and forth between the three, slowly realizing that they were completely serious. Elijah's and Rebekah's faces turned into sheer terror when they had finished their story. Unlike Nik, Rebekah and Elijah didn't resist as long as he did. Maybe it was because they had more trust in their siblings. Or maybe because both he and Kol were already convinced. They knew that it couldn't be a joke. He saw how his own words slowly broke Elijah and Rebekah. He didn't want to do this to them, but there was no way around it.

"This cannot be," Rebekah said into the distance with a thin voice. "What have I done with my life?"

"What can we do? What are we going to do?" Elijah said, tracing through the room.

That was typical for Elijah, Nik thought. He was trying to find a reasonable solution for the problem before the full amount desperation could even reach him. Kol followed his walk with his eyes.

"There's nothing we can do," he said.

"I mean have we thought about all the possibilities? There must be something-" Elijah said again.

"What does it matter?" Rebekah shouted. "It all makes sense, doesn't it?! Immortality! We're so stupid! It was only a matter of time until something killed us anyway! Might as well be the spell that created us!"

"Calm down, okay? We'll figure out a way to deal with this," Nik said.

"Don't tell me to calm down! If there's a moment where none us should calm down, it is right now!" Rebekah shouted. "And don't pretend you're the calm one in this family!"

Kol snorted at that last remark. Elijah threw a nasty look at him.

"What are we going to do?" Elijah asked again.

"250 years is still a long time. It's like three good human lives," Briony said.

They all looked at her in shock.

"I didn't expect you to agree with this," Briony added quietly and sat down in a chair.

Suddenly Nik had a semi-useful idea.

"You can change it," Nik turned to Briony. "Don't you?"

She raised her eyebrows and observed him for a moment.

"How am I supposed to change it?" she rolled her eyes.

"You can do things like that. This is not the time to be humble!" Nik exclaimed. Then with some reconsideration he added: "Please."

"This has nothing to do with your lack of politeness, Nik. But that spell was made almost 800 years ago. By your mother. And with the help of one of the most powerful witches that has ever lived, and I frankly still don't understand why she agreed to help with something like this. And you're expecting me to _improve_ their spell?"

"Well, yes," he replied.

Briony looked at him disbelievingly. "I told you before that immortality is not an existing thing in this world. Not even the most powerful witches on this planet have managed to create it. And you think I can just do it like that?" She snapped her fingers. "It's impossible."

"So you're not even trying?" Nik replied angrily.

Briony shook her head. With some resignation she looked over to Kol.

"I suppose we can see if there is anything we can do. But I won't be chasing some impossible idea for the next two hundred years."


	17. More Powerful Witches

**_Present Day_**

With great reluctance Davina returned to the witch bar a day later. Freya hadn't explained her whole plan the night before or what she needed Klaus' blood for. Davina hadn't given her the chance. As more and more witches had turned up in the back office, each of them throwing a terrible glare at Davina, she had decided it was best to leave before the focus turned to her. Freya had made her promise though that she'd return the next day. Davina regretted the decision that she left the day before. Now she still had the whole confrontation with the coven ahead of her. And this time she had to show up all by herself, without being able to hide behind Freya's back.

Slowly she entered the back office of the bar. She was glad to see that only few people were there yet. She tiptoed in the entrance, until Freya saw her.

"Davina," Freya's face lit up. "Good to see you back. Sit down."

She ushered her to a chair. It took another ten minutes and the room began to fill up. To Davina's relief most of the witches didn't pay her any attention. Whatever Freya had told them about her must have appeased them a bit. That didn't count for everyone though. As Louis entered the room she could feel the temperature of the room drop to arctic levels. She only caught his glare for a second and then immediately turned away. Her plan was to avoid any confrontation and so she stared to the ground, folded her hands and kept her mouth shut. Louis' approach to the situation was different. He sat down in the chair next to her and crossed his arms. Why on earth did he sit down next to her? So much for making this situation even more uncomfortable. She could feel his glare on her, but she kept her eyes on the ground.

When almost all the chairs were occupied the door opened once more. The room got quiet. Curiosity took over and Davina looked up as well. Jean entered, accompanied by a man and a woman. Davina immediately knew who they were. Bastien and Celine Blanchard.

"I think this is everyone," Jean said, and she and her guests sat down as well.

"What is this about, Jean?" one of the witches asked her. Davina couldn't remember seeing her the night before.

"Some of you haven't been here last night, so let me start from the beginning," Jean said. "After Freya had been captured by the Original vampires, as you all know, she managed to escape… with some help." She quickly glanced to Davina.

Davina had a hard time not rolling her eyes. Way to show gratitude, Jean.

"During her capture Freya managed to learn valuable information about the Original vampires, that will help us to get rid of them. Even kill them. And it just sop happened that the vampires were in presence of the only people that could get us what we need to get rid of them." She nodded to Celine and Bastien.

 _Kill them_ , the words flew through Davina's head. Until now she wasn't aware that this was the coven's goal.

"We immediately contacted them and everything worked out to plan," Jean concluded.

"How are we going to kill them?" someone asked.

"Freya?" Jean asked.

"The idea came to me after Sara told me her plan," Freya said besides Davina. She was the only who wasn't bothered by sitting next to her besides Louis.

"Sara told me, just before this terrible thing happened to her, that instead of using all our powers to fight them, we should use them to resurrect someone who is more powerful than us."

"And that's what you want to do?" Louis asked, skeptical.

"Well, not just anyone powerful. During my capture I learnt about a powerful witch. The Originals vampires told me about their mother. She was the witch who created them. And after realizing what she had done, she had tried to kill them. If we could resurrect her, she could kill them for us. And now hear this, she died here in New Orleans."

Davina tried to put the pieces together. She wanted them gone as well, that was true. But just keeping them out of town would have been enough. She didn't want to kill them. Killing them would mean killing all the vampires, Marcel included. That gave her a bitter taste in her mouth.

"But we can't just resurrect people. It's not that simple," someone weighed in.

"She was a magical being. And she was killed by another magical being," Freya said with gravitas.

Now Davina saw where Freya was going. Of course, she wanted to resurrect Esther with Niklaus' blood.

Another witch put it together as well and exclaimed: "We can resurrect witches if they were killed by another magical being! We just need the blood of the murderer for the spell. But do we know who it was?"

"Yes," Freya said. "It was Niklaus."

"How do you know that?" Davina blurted out.

She was confused. She had read about Esther, and she was pretty sure that was not how she died. In fact, she remembered who had done it according to Briony's diaries.

"Because they pretty much told me," Freya replied.

"Really," Davina said surprised.

Someone else asked a question, and Freya turned away to reply. Then they discussed Niklaus' blood that the werewolves successfully acquired in the night before. Davina listened to their story on how they double crossed the vampires. Davina didn't feel sorry for the Originals being tricked, but part of her felt bad for Elijah who was still stuck in the Bayou. The witches and werewolves agreed that keeping him there would keep the rest of the Originals busy until the spell was completed. Since they were so many witches and they could use the energy field in the forest it would not take more than a few days. The general air in the room turned to excitement. Suddenly the goal of getting rid of the Original vampires seemed graspable.

Davina's head began to spin. She realized Freya made a big mistake. Niklaus didn't kill Esther. The longer she thought about it, the surer she was about that fact. Briony had a rather detailed recollection of the events on Esther's death. Davina was sure that someone else had killed her. Ironically, Briony had left out how exactly Esther had tried to kill them. Maybe Freya had misunderstood whatever she believed to have heard from her siblings? Davina thought about if she should tell the coven about that. If she did, she'd surely gain some respect back from them. But then she would have to tell them about the notebooks, and she didn't want to share them. And then there was the fact that she didn't want the vampires dead.

As the discussion around her became livelier around her, Davina just became quieter. She kept her mouth shut. No, she couldn't do it. She was sure this would have been her last chance to come back into the good graces of the coven, but she didn't want to for that kind of price. After the night was over, she'd finally get on that bus and leave New Orleans forever. She'd let resurrect the coven whatever magical being Niklaus had killed in New Orleans. It surely wouldn't be Esther.

* * *

 ** _1751, Northern France_**

It was an odd feeling to know that he was going to die. Elijah didn't know what to do with. Somehow he still felt the same. The only thing that changed that everything he did now had some sense of urgency to it. They tended to postpone things, but now they might not have the time to do it. Briony had guessed that they wouldn't age much before dying. Instead it would come rather quickly, without warning. But Elijah didn't want to let it come so far. His brain continuously went through all the possible scenarios. What could they do? Where to start?

Several weeks had passed since they had learnt the truth. Since that time Nik had locked himself in a room with Kol and Briony to figure out a plan. In the beginning Elijah had joined them, but he soon decided that he'd rather be anywhere else than being locked in a room with these three impatient people. He'd let them figure out their plan by themselves. Instead he decided to look for other solutions. Part of him also played with the scenario that they couldn't change it. Every time that thought slipped through his mind his back shuddered. No, that wasn't an option.

It was an early dusty morning and Nik trampled back and forth through the living room. Elijah watched him for a while and then turned back to the window. A second later Kol appeared in the doorway.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked Nik.

"Waiting for your girlfriend to wake up," he replied.

It had been like this in the last few days. Nik didn't see any need for rest anymore. All he wanted to do was find a solution as quick as possible. He couldn't understand that the others didn't feel the same.

"I rather think you're trying to wake her up with your stampede!"

"Is it working?" Nik asked.

"She's not a vampire, Nik!" Kol snapped. "She needs to sleep sometimes!"

"Does she really, though? She does that a lot lately," Nik grumbled.

"What is that supposed to mean? Do you think she pretends to sleep in order to tease you? You're an idiot," Kol replied.

Elijah sighed. He wondered how this was helping anything. He understood that Nik was stressed by the situation but after all it wasn't that urgent. And he doubted that Briony could do anything in the first place.

"Stop bickering, you two," he said.

A short while later both Rebekah and Briony entered the living room. Like the rest of them they had an air of fatigue around them. The last few weeks had been stressful for everyone. Rebekah let herself fall into a sofa chair.

"Let's continue with our work then?" Nik said, as he saw her. He began to walk over to the exit door.

"Wait," Briony stopped him.

"I thought about an idea," Briony added.

They all looked at her with anticipation.

"Good! Yes?" Nik asked eagerly and stepped closer to her.

She looked at him in mild surprise. "Calm down. I haven't solved the immortality spell if that's what you're thinking."

Nik grumbled. "What then?"

"The thought of creating an immortality spell…" she slowly shook her head. "That's way out of my league."

She began tracing down the room. "Compared to that resurrecting people suddenly seems very feasible. It's hard as well, but at least possible."

"What do you mean? Who do you want to resurrect?" Elijah asked.

"Your mother," she paused. "She created the original spell. If anyone has even the slightest chance to temper with that spell it's her."

They looked at her in surprise. Elijah let that thought go through his head. Would that work?

"And you can do that?" Nik asked.

"Well, we'd need to find her remains, which is probably the trickiest part of the whole thing. Because she has been dead for such a long time."

"Do we think it's wise to do that?" Elijah asked.

He remembered what it was like when their mother was still around. Soon after she had turned them into vampires she had regretted it. Elijah doubted that she'd agree to even prolong her mistake now. Besides, resurrection spells were not easy and took a long time. Was it worth to go all through that trouble? And what if they actually succeeded and Esther wouldn't help them in the end? Then they'd spent all that time chasing the wrong solution while time would pass by.

"Since it's the first proper idea we have we shouldn't easily dismiss it, Elijah. If there's even a possibility that it might work we have to do it," Nik said.

"He's right. I don't think we'll find any other possibility that comes as close to a solution as this," Briony added. "But as I said, I won't be easy. Resurrection needs a lot of time, and I might need help to do it. And the thing with the remains will be a problem. After all those years she probably has turned completely into dust."

"Yeah, about that…" Nik said slowly.

They all turned to him. He averted his eyes and looked at his feet. There was something in Nik's words that didn't sound good to Elijah.

"Niklaus?" Elijah asked.

He knew that look. He already figured that he probably won't like what comes next. Why wasn't he surprised by this? Nik stalled for a moment.

Then he said: "The good thing is she hasn't turned into dust."

"Why?" Elijah asked, carefully.

"Because I put her in an enchanted coffin. She's not as dead as you might think she is."

With widened eyes his sibling stared at him in silence. It took a moment for that piece of information to sink it.

"You did what?!" Rebekah gasped after a moment of silence.

"You're joking," Kol said aghast.

Nik looked at them, slightly intimidated. "I mean, it doesn't make much difference to us. She's as dead as it gets. And just by ourselves we wouldn't be able to resurrect from that state anyway. So it's pretty much the same as dead."

"And you never bothered to tell us?!" Elijah said, taking a step closer to his brother.

"Why on earth did you do that?" Rebekah closed in from the other side.

"It just seemed better than letting her die completely. It doesn't really matter," Nik said, taking a slow step back. "Does it?"

"Oh you think that, don't you?" Elijah said, gritting his teeth.

He had a hard time not to punch his brother in this moment. Nik seemed out of words. His eye twitched. He seemed to already expect a blow at his head. They stared at each other for a few moments, while the others watched them in strained silence.

"I guess in this particular situation we could say this is fortunate?" Briony said, trying to sound diplomatic.

Kol looked at her and shook his head vigorously and she was quiet again.

Elijah's contempt for his, at this moment, least favourite brother slowly weakened again. He shook his head in surrender. It wasn't worth to get angry about this. At least not right now. He tried to focus on the advantage that this situation brought.

Eventually he said with forced politeness: "Alright. So you carried our mother around in a coffin for several centuries."

Speaking it out loud only made it sound even more ridiculous to Elijah. "Can you bring her here?"

"Well, no, she's not here," Nik said, slightly taken aback.

"Where is she?" Elijah asked, restraining himself.

Nik quickly recalled, glad that the conversation moved on. "Do you remember that time we spent at that lake in Greece, right at the northern border?"

"Did you leave her there in Greece?" Rebekah gasped and she put her hands in front of her mouth. "Why would you do that?"

"Well, no," he replied. "I left her on the island on that lake. And the island technically belongs to Albania."

"You left our mother in Albania?!" Elijah exclaimed.

"It was much safer than carrying her around the whole time," Nik pleaded. "No one ever goes to that island."

That they had this conversation in a situation where they were facing death only reminded Elijah of the constant absurdity he was confronted with his siblings, and especially with Nik. Maybe they had indeed lived too long and were past any kind of life based on sanity.

Against Elijah's better judgement, they soon decided that they needed to leave for Greece as soon as possible. Elijah doubted that a journey would improve their mental state and would only add another layer of stress. He had suggested that Nik would go there alone and bring their mother back to France, but Nik and the rest of his siblings were against it. They argued it would need too much time. Elijah figured though that they just didn't want to sit around anymore. He couldn't blame them. Going on a quest to Greece seemed a better occupation than thinking about one's own mortality.

Within the hour they had already decided on all preparations. They wanted to leave within two weeks time. Briony couldn't say if any of their plans would actually work. She couldn't make any predictions on how well a resurrection would work on Esther in her death-like trance state. She needed to see her first before she could decide anything. Still, even Elijah had to admit that this loose plan was better than sit around and do nothing. When they had decided on their schedule Rebekah turned to Briony.

"We need to contact Finn right away," she said.

"What?" Nik interrupted her. "No, we don't!"

Rebekah turned to him instead, agitated. "This is not up to you, anymore. He ought to know. This is a life and death situation! Don't you think we should all be together?!"

"Finn won't understand, Rebekah," he replied. "Death, that's what he's wanted for a long time. He won't help us!"

"He'll sabotage us," he pushed again.

"He ought to know," Rebekah repeated, pleading.

She turned to Elijah and Kol.

"I don't know," Elijah said carefully. "It probably only makes things more difficult with him."

Nik nodded in agreement. Rebekah sighed and turned away.

"Let's wait for now, okay?" Elijah added. "We can tell him when we have figured out a more concrete plan. It shouldn't take long until we know more."

* * *

 **Author's note: Several people have asked me now about Kol and if he ever comes back in present time. So I thought I'd be easiest if I just reply to that here: To be honest, I'm still a bit torn on that decision. Obviously I'd like him there in the present time because I like writing about him. But at the same time I like how the other siblings are confronted with some sense of finality and mortality through his death, and that there are things that they can't change. So yeah, I haven't quite decided on that. All I know it's not gonna happen in the near future. If you have any strong opinions about this feel free to tell me in the comments :-)**


	18. Resurrection

**_Present Day_**

How this could happen to Davina, was a mystery to her. She traced her room up and down, every few minutes checking the street through the blinds of her window. The street was empty. Her huge suitcase was still ready to go next to the door. She had left it there the night before.

The day before she had wanted to leave New Orleans for good. She had gone to the bus station as planned. But as she walked up to the transit building she had already notice the huge crowds in front of it. Inside the building they had told her that all the buses were overbooked for the day because the nearby airport had closed due to some storm. She had been given a new ticket for the day after. Davina had played with the idea in just staying right there in the bus stop until she could finally leave. But she had to admit that this was no way safer than going home again. Then, with great reluctance she had gone home again, the whole time worrying that the witches, or even worse the vampires, had already been waiting for her there. Luckily no one had.

Since then she had locked herself inside her small apartment and decided to leave the next morning as soon as possible.

Now it was almost time to go. Maybe another half an hour and she would go back to the bus station. She looked outside the window again. Still, no one there. Just as she wanted to turn away she saw a silhouette far away, just turning into her street. With strained nerves Davina watched the silhouette coming closer. It was a woman. Maybe it was just a passerby, she reminded herself. She recognized blonde hair. Her stomach turned into a huge knot. There were two possibilities of who that could be, and Davina didn't want either of them to become true. The woman turned to her house. It was Freya. Davina felt some sense of relief. At least Freya didn't want to murder her, probably.

A minute later her door knocked. Davina sat dead still on her bed. She waited. Another knock. Davina didn't reply.

"Davina, I know you're awake. I saw you in your window," she heard Freya say.

Reluctantly Davina walked over to the door and opened it. Freya smiled at her, apparently relieved that she answered the door.

"What do you want?" Davina asked, and immediately reminded herself that despite everything she actually was on good terms with Freya.

"You weren't at the bar yesterday. So I just wanted to check if you're still in for the resurrection. It's tonight!" she said.

"Tonight? Already!" Davina asked surprised.

"Yeah," Freya asked with some tiredness in her voice. "Good constellations of planets tonight, you know how it goes. It's either now or in two and a half months."

"Huh," Davina replied. She knew they were in a hurry with the resurrection, but didn't expect them to work everything out in two days.

"Were you planning on leaving?" Freya asked, as her eyes fell on the big suitcase.

Davina hesitated.

"I know you're scared," Freya said, before Davina could reply. "I am too. But running away is not a good idea. We're much stronger together. And I wasn't kidding when I said we need everyone for the resurrection."

Davina knew she saw serious about that. But of course, Freya didn't know that her spell wouldn't work in any case. And Davina wouldn't tell her. Freya took a few steps into her apartment and she looked around. It made Davina a bit uncomfortable, but she didn't know how to stop Freya from doing it. She reminded herself that she had already packed away all the notebooks.

"This resurrection spell, it will revive a witch who can help us. And everything will go back to normal," Freya said intently, as she looked out the window where Davina had just stood before.

Davina observed her for a moment. Then she carefully asked: "Is that the whole reason? Why you want to resurrect her?"

"What do you mean?" Freya asked, turning back to her.

Davina observed her expression for a moment. "If I understood correct, the witch we're resurrecting is your mother, isn't she? Esther?"

Freya shoulders twitched. She looked at Davina with a perplexed face.

After she caught herself again she said with a slightly trembling voice: "I never thanked you for being so… considerate about my family relations."

"Yeah I can see why you don't want to spread those news around the coven," Davina said with a smirk.

Freya looked at her in disbelief. She obviously didn't know what to do with Davina.

"Must be odd," Davina added, "this situation. Meeting your mother after all those years. And killing your siblings at the same time."

Freya's face hardened. "Well, you can't choose your family."

"But all of this will change when we'll resurrect Esther," Freya repeated.

It wouldn't be Esther. Davina had checked again after Freya had told her idea for the first time. Now Davina was one hundred percent sure that Esther was killed by someone else.

"And how is this spell working?" Davina asked. "How do you know you will resurrect the right person?"

"The spell," Freya said, apparently glad the conversation turned to something else, "is designed so that it pulls on the strongest magical being that fits the description, or let's say the imprint of the spell."

"So you're basically resurrecting whatever magical being was the strongest in New Orleans."

"Yes," Freya nodded.

"And that was killed by Niklaus," Davina added.

"Which is Esther," Freya concluded.

Davina nodded slowly. An idea formed in her head. Could it be? There was the other witch she by now had read so much about, who happened to be killed in New Orleans by the very hands that allegedly had murdered Esther. While Esther didn't fit to the description of the spell, Briony did perfectly. A mixture of excitement and smugness overcame Davina. Why this was reason enough to stay she couldn't tell, but her gut told her to stick around to see what happened.

"Fine, I'll stay," she said, while trying to hide a smirk.

The rest of the day went by like a blur. She had followed Freya back to the coven. But this time she didn't care about the glares she occasionally got. Her knowledge about what was about to happen made her feel superior. They had many things to prepare. Davina did what she was told, without ever talking to anyone besides Freya. Before she knew it Davina stood together with the other witches in the forest, as the sun slowly set. Since they didn't know if Esther was buried in New Orleans or if any of the remains even survived over time, the coven decided to simply summon her out of the earth. So instead of the cemetery they had gathered in the forest in the centre of the magical heap of energy the witches had been so obsessed about. Davina was surprised to see that everyone of the coven had shown up. There were much more people in the coven than she remembered.

After everyone had been present Freya and Jean began to sort everyone to a particular spot that made them stand in several circles. Davina was glad that she had been assigned to one in the back rows. Soon after Jean gave them instructions when who had to chant which part of the spell. It wasn't that difficult, but everyone paid close attention to Jean's words. After that the enchantment of the spell began. Davina again chanted when she was told.

After a few minutes the earth began to tremble. Davina didn't know where to look. On every side the trees began to shake. The endless shattering became louder and louder.

"It's working!" the man next to Davina shouted.

Davina's knees felt wobbly and she had trouble staying on her legs. It felt like they were breaking nature itself into halves for this spell.

Suddenly a great green light shot through their lines. Davina heard cries and gasps around as she herself closed her eyes shut. She forced herself to open them again. A bright green light was still around them and shot into the sky. She couldn't tell where it came from or where it went. A worry came over her. Was it working after all? It couldn't be. But was all of this supposed to happen even though there was no way they could resurrect Esther? Just as she wanted to turn her head to look for the source of the bright light, it abruptly disappeared. The trembling stopped. Davina fell on her knees. She wasn't the only one who lost her footing. As she clambered up to an upright position she heard the witches around her talk. "Did it work?" "Was that supposed to happen?"

Davina searched for Freya and Jean in the mass, and found them in the centre. They were discussing something. She couldn't hear what they were saying. As she moved a few steps closer she realized they weren't discussing, they were arguing.

"It didn't work, Freya!" she heard Jean say, as she stepped closer.

" _Something_ happened. You can't deny that!" Freya defended herself.

"Why, what do you mean, it didn't work?" a witch that stood next to Davina exclaimed.

Jean turned to them. "Did you see the green light?" she said heatedly. "It went right passed us. The energy didn't bind together the way it was supposed to! No one is going to be resurrected like that!"

"If there was nothing it could be bound to, the energy wouldn't have manifested the way it did!" Freya shouted. Davina could hear some desperation in her voice.

"What does that help us, Freya? We just wasted a lot of power for this stunt! Until we have recovered from this we're practically helpless!" Jean shouted back.

"Did we see where the light went?" the witch next to Davina asked.

Davina didn't wait for the answer, but she was sure none of them had been able to see it. She hadn't either. But unlike them she had an idea where it might have gone. As the witches kept arguing, she moved slowly back to her original spot. When she was sure that no one was watching her, she made a turn and began to run and disappeared between the trees.

* * *

 ** _1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_**

Niklaus walked down the slippery path down to the chapel that was carved into the stone at the foot of the small island. He held up his jacket over his head in the hope that this would somewhat protect him from the rain. But the wind made it impossible to stay dry. Although it was raining and the rocks wet and slippery he didn't pay much attention where he stepped. By now he could have drawn every single rock of that island in his sleep if necessary. He would have never thought that this was the place that he and siblings would choose to stay at for such a long time. To be fair, it wasn't completely by choice that they had been there for almost half a century. Back in France they had thought it wouldn't take long to resurrect their mother. That this was going to be the easy part of their quest to create an actual immortality spell. But now, 49 years later, they had only managed to find Esther's coffin again and had been staring at her dead body ever since. It had been draining, all these unsuccessful tries. Nik was long past being restless. But soon they'd give it another try.

As soon as he reached the roof of the cave-like chapel, he took off his jacket and shook it out. He gave a last glance on the darkening lake around him and stepped inside. Rebekah was sitting on the foot of the opened coffin and looked at her dead mother, sunken in thoughts. She didn't look up but Nik figured she registered him.

"Don't you wanna wait with that until she's alive? It should only be a matter of days now," he said with a smile.

She looked up to him with a raised eyebrow. "Since when did you turn into such an optimist?"

"Someone has to be," he said meekly.

When Nik was honest with himself, he had to admit that he wasn't optimistic at all. He couldn't be when somebody else was in charge of success, and there was nothing he could add in order for the spell to work. Rebekah turned back to Esther and rested her elbows at the edge of the coffin.

"Don't you think it's odd that we have known her longer like _this_ now," Rebekah nodded towards the coffin, "than alive?"

"Yes, it is," Nik admitted.

"I wonder sometimes," Rebekah said, "if she'll remember me, us, at all. If she even has memories from such a long time ago."

"Yes, of course," Nik replied. "She'll remember us much better, than we remember her."

"Oh really," Rebekah said. "I think I'll always remember everything about our mother. I could never forget."

Nik wasn't surprised by that. How Rebekah could live a life while continuously being faced with her emotions was a mystery to him. Frankly, he probably hadn't forgotten either, he was just really good at repressing those kinds of thoughts.

"But you think that forgetting might have been better, don't you?" Rebekah asked, as if she read his thoughts.

It was true. He was worried. Usually skepticism had the upper hand and he doubted that they would see their mother alive ever again. But what if they did? Would she even be happy to see them? She had regretted her immortality spell before and tried to undo her mistake. What if she hated her mistake so much that she also hated them? They had gone through all this trouble, and the possibility that she would completely reject them was high. Nik shuddered at the thought. Usually he was good at pushing away people who didn't care about him, but this was different. How can you turn off your feelings for your own mother? What even was worse was the thought of how she could treat his brothers and sister. The way Rebekah was looking at her now was heartbreaking.

"We'll figure something out when we're done with the resurrection," Nik eventually replied.

"If it will work," Rebekah said and got up.

Rebekah's doubts were understandable. So far their attempts to resurrect Esther had been fruitless. Their first proper try was a complete failure. Nothing had happened. Only then Briony had made the decision that whatever enchantment Esther was under was actually more difficult to break than they had originally thought. The problem was that the witch who had made the enchantment was long dead. And she did not bind the spell to her life, but nature itself. Which meant, according to Briony, that Esther's enchantment was pretty much equal to death, if not even harder to break. They had done a second try two full decades later, after lots of preparations. They had found a second witch who was willing to help, which had seemed ideal at that time. She hadn't been as powerful as Briony, but she had agreed to help with the spell nevertheless. Unfortunately this had also been her downfall. Before the spell had been completed, she had been struck dead by the power of the spell. After that Briony insisted on doing the spell alone, although it had taken her several decades more to prepare. And now after half a century it looked they were ready once again.

He heard a crash outside. Kol was swearing. A second later he stood in the doorway.

"Did you just fall down the stairs again?" Nik asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kol rubbed his shoulder. "Those bloody rocks."

"How does that still happen to you? We've been here forever!"

"What is it to you if I don't pay attention when walking down those stupid stairs at night?" Kol replied defensively. Then he added in a murmur: "At least now you get something to be smug about."

A thunder halled through the small chapel.

"At least there's something we can look forward to when everything works out," Rebekah turned to Nik again. "We can go and tell Finn. I'm sure our mother can convince him to stay with us for good."

Nik was pretty sure that she was the only one who was looking forward to _that_. Without saying another word Rebekah took her jacket and walked outside in the rain. Nik and Kol exchanged a look.

"We're not planning on telling Finn, right?" Kol asked.

Nik shook his head. "If he wanted to be here for it, then he should have been here the whole time."

"And it would be very counterproductive for the overall goal. He'll never help us convince her to prolong our lives," he then added.

"Still," Kol said, "I doubt we'll be able to keep him out of this forever. I don't care too much about it, but I feel like Rebekah and Elijah do."

"Let's just postpone the Finn situation for as long as possible," Nik replied.

They heard a crack outside the door. Someone was listening. They both turned to the entrance of the small chapel.

Briony stood in the door. She was barefoot. Her hair and her clothes were dripping wet.

"Briony, love," Kol said. "What is it?"

"We can do it now. I'm ready," she simply said.

"Now?" Nik asked hesitantly. It seemed very sudden.

"Yes, right now is good," Briony replied, and turned around marched up the stairs into the forest.

They followed her into the woods until they reached a glade that was close to the highest point of the small island. As they stepped out of the protecting trees the rain fell even harder on them. A thunder rolled again. It almost felt like the thunderstorm that had seemed to pass came back and circled the island. They had taken out Esther out of the coffin and laid her down in the middle of the glade. The meadow on the glade was muddy and steep as the walked through it. The water came down even harder now and it became harder to see anything in the darkness. Nik began to wonder how this was a good idea. After all those decades of preparation, even he thought they should be a bit more careful.

"Are you sure now is a good time?" he asked Briony again.

Briony was deep in thoughts as she laid out some crystals in front of her. "What?" she asked absent-mindedly. "Yes, now is good. Nevermind the weather."

The way she spoke was determined and focused. He could tell she was convinced that this was now the time. Still, her body was shaking from the rain and the ice cold wind. If she didn't die of a cold, she'd probably get struck by lightning first, Nik thought.

"Good, get ready," she said soon after.

The whole thing felt rushed.

He asked again "Are you sure that-"

"Yes!" she interrupted him. "Now get out of my way!"

Reluctantly Nik walked out to the edge of the glade, as they had discussed before. Standing on his toes, he observed what was happening next. From afar he still was able to make out Briony. Briony quickly looked if all of them, he, Kol, Rebekah and Elijah, were still there where she told them to be, arranged in a somewhat odd shaped circle along the edges of the glade. Nik didn't know what purpose this had, but he knew he wouldn't get any useful answer out of her this point.

Then Briony raised her hands into the sky. She began chanting a spell. Nik had asked what the chant meant before several times, and by now he probably would be able to say it along, not that this would help anything. For the first few minutes nothing happened, except that the rain and the wind grew stronger. But then, almost completely unnoticeable, a strange hammering sound became louder and louder. He couldn't tell if it came from the ground or the sky. It was all around them. The winds began to rise again and the rain came down even harder. Nik couldn't tell if that was part of the evocation or if they were just really unlucky with the weather. The earth under Nik's feet began to tremble. The trees around them began to shatter and some wooden branches crashed onto the ground. The island shook back and forth as if something beneath would want to break it apart. It felt like they were standing on a volcano that was about to erupt. Between the thunder and the rain he still could hear Briony's voice in the distance. It grew thinner every second, as the loud wind and the hammering sound blew through Nik's ears. He could see that she was struggling to stay on her feet. That was what had happened to the other witch in their last attempt. She had suddenly lost her footing and then had fallen down life-less.

Suddenly a bright green light appeared from the sky and concentrated to a sharp jet of light that pushed down into the centre of the glade where Esther and Briony were. Everything became so bright, Nik had a hard time to see Esther, Briony or any of his siblings for that matter. The jet of light penetrated the earth and made everything shake even more. Nik was sure the island would break into pieces any second. He forced himself to stay on his feet and keep his eyes fixed on the bright light.

A loud bang halled through the air, and a second later the beam of light crashed into the ground where Esther just was. Briony was pushed away by an invisible force and landed several metres away on her back. She didn't get up again. For a few seconds everything was quiet. The only sound remaining was the constant whirring of the rain. It looked like the trees and everything around them slowly settled down again to their normal state. It was over.

Without another moment to spare Nik rushed to the centre of the meadow. Esther's body was completely unharmed and still looked just the same as before. But then Nik's heart made a leap. She was breathing.


	19. Crimes Against Nature

**_Present Day_**

Two werewolves were standing in front of the mansion in the woods. Nik and Rebekah watched them from a safe distance. The window they had smashed the last time they were here was now boarded up. The werewolves talked casually. They didn't seem to expect anyone to attack any time soon.

"Since we already misunderstood the werewolves so much, could it be that they're actually treating Elijah very civilized? Maybe they just hold him in a nice room in the cellar and he's fine?" Rebekah suggested.

"I highly doubt it," Nik replied.

"We should split up. I go around and -" he added.

"No," Rebekah interrupted. "We don't split up this time. Splitting up is why we lost Elijah in the first place."

Nik contemplated. "Fine," he eventually said.

"Then we won't have much choice but attacking. Let's get going. We have already wasted too much time on this."

They had already been here the day before. Just like now they had watched the entrance, preparing themselves to attack. It had taken a lot of persuasion to make one of the werewolves tell them where Elijah was. At first Rebekah and Nik had tried the usual tactics of threat and murder but soon they had realized that this wasn't working. None of the werewolves had given in, and all of them were ready to die for that. Eventually, after spending a day of interrogating the wrong people, they had found one werewolf who gave in. Like the others that werewolf hadn't been bothered by his own death, but apparently cared about others not being killed. Rebekah and Nik had then threatened some of his closet werewolf friends until he cooperated. He had told them that they kept Elijah in the cellar. He didn't want to say more than this, but it had been enough. Now they knew where Elijah was. Getting him out was the only thing left they had to do.

From a distance they walked to the back of the house. There too was a door with two werewolves standing in front of it.

"That shouldn't be so hard," Nik said.

A second later he disappeared and moved over to the entrance door. Before the werewolves could realize he was there they already fell lifeless on the ground with a big hole in their chests where their hearts used to be. He looked back to Rebekah. She joined him in front of the door.

"Don't forget the plan. No matter what comes towards us, we get to the stairs and down to the cellar and fight our way through until we get to Elijah," Nik said.

"Just fight your way through until finish, got it. That's not hard to remember."

"Alright," Nik said. And with one last glance to Rebekah he kicked in the door.

They rushed through the entrance that led them right into the kitchen. It only took a few seconds and another two werewolves appeared. Rebekah fought with all her might to keep them, especially their fangs, away from her so she didn't get bitten. On her way out to the corridor she grabbed a metal tray that was lying on the counter and smashed it into the approaching werewolf's face. They rushed along the corridor where more werewolves surrounded them. It became harder and harder to get through. Unlike last time, the werewolves weren't as fixated on Nik, and Rebekah had a hard time fighting them off. They had almost managed to reach the staircase when another werewolf jumped on her and threw her on the ground. Just before the werewolf managed to bite her in the shoulder she kicked him off her. Suddenly she felt something pulling at her arm. She wanted to fight it off until she realized it was Nik. He grabbed her and pulled her in front of her.

Suddenly Rebekah lost her footing again and she stumbled downwards. It took her a few seconds until she realized that she was falling down the stairs. Her head hit on the cold ground. It was a welcome change to the werewolf fight. A burning pain went through her back, but she didn't have time to think about this. She looked up the staircase and saw Nik barricading the door with loose boards. She doubted that this would hold very long. Turning to the other side, she saw the damp long corridor with rock walls. _Don't forget the plan,_ she thought. Recollecting her strength, she pulled herself up again and rushed along the narrow corridor. There were many doors on both sides, some of them halfway open. It seemed logical that they'd keep Elijah as far away as possible, so she walked to the end of the hallway. There she found a heavy door with a huge lock. Immediately, Rebekah kicked the door in, and it broke open.

Then she saw her brother. He was lying on his back with his arms spread out. There was a deep gaping wound stretching over his whole chest. Elijah's eyes were half closed, and it was clear that he wasn't responsive. He looked feverish and pale. Rebekah knew those signs could only be caused by werewolf venom. Lots of it. Nik pushed her aside and rushed through the door.

"Keep the door shut," he said.

A second later Rebekah heard many steps coming down the stairs. She smashed the door shut behind them and held it closed. Many people pushed against it and she needed all her strength to keep it shut. Between her struggle she looked over to Elijah and Nik, and saw that Nik was feeding him blood.

"Can't that wait until we're outside? We need to get out right now!" she shouted.

"No, it can't!" Nik shouted back.

Her eyes scanned the room. No windows and no other exits. They were trapped.

"What now?" Rebekah said, still pushing against the door.

Nik lifted Elijah up over his shoulders and joined her at the door. He seemed to think of a plan.

He nodded, as if he just agreed to his own decision. "Alright," he said.

"You take Elijah," he concluded. "When we open the door, you get to the exit as quick as possible. I'll fight off as many as I can and keep them back as long as possible."

"No," Rebekah shook her head vehemently. "That's a terrible plan."

"It will be fine. I can take them on," Nik replied, and handed her Elijah.

"No, you can't! Remember what happened last time? How is it better if we leave you behind this time?" Rebekah shouted.

"Last time was different. Besides it's the only option we have," Nik replied. "Just tell me any other good idea and I change my mind."

"See," he said, before Rebekah had the chance to say anything, "you can't think of anything. Now let's do this."

Rebekah didn't have time to be angry or worried, as Nik pulled the door open right away.

There was no time to argue anymore and Rebekah did as she was told. Fighting them off while also holding on to Elijah was even harder. But as she pushed through, up the stairs, she realized that Nik did indeed clear the way for them. As she reached the top of the stairs, she saw a hoard of werewolves running towards them. She immediately turned around and ran the other way into a room that looked like a library. She didn't stop there and rushed through. When she saw the window at the other side of the room she found their escape. Like in their last fight, she smashed through the window and landed outside on a blanket of grass and broken glass. She got on her feet again and pulled Elijah up to a standing position. The crash must have helped him regain some conscience.

"Can you stand?" she asked, while having the broken window in the corner of her eye.

He nodded and grumbled something.

"Good, then run." She grabbed Elijah by his arm and pulled him behind her into the woods.

She could tell he was in the process healing but he was still much slower than usual. She ran as fast as she could into the darkness. If Nik was anywhere near she couldn't tell. She didn't dare to look back. After any kind of noise behind them disappeared they stopped. They stood on a hillside. Rebekah fell to her knees and closed her eyes for a moment. She still felt the pain in her back. When she opened them again her surroundings looked familiar. This might have been the same place where she and Nik had been after they had escaped the mansion in the woods the last time. Then she turned to Elijah who sat down on the ground. He looked already much better than in the cellar. The wound on his chest was still there but visibly smaller. She grabbed him into a hug and clung her arms around him. He didn't resist. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his bloody shoulders. It was an eternally great relief to have Elijah back. They stayed like this for a while, too exhausted to move again. Yet a bad feeling crept up her spine. Why did they have to split up? Did she have to worry for Nik now instead?

A crackling noise of a branch made her look up again. A great sense of relief fell on her chest. Nik stood not far from them. Littered with scratches and dirt, he too looked terribly exhausted. With a few stumbling steps he walked over and fell down next to them, and embraced both of them.

"I'm really glad to see you guys," Elijah said.

"Same," Nik replied, reaffirming his grip.

Suddenly Rebekah felt a shudder. First she thought it was caused by the venom in her body. But then she realized the ground was vibrating. Slowly she let go of Elijah. They looked at each other. Her brothers noticed it too.

Suddenly a bright green light enlightened the sky. They all looked up. It came from the town.

"You're seeing that as well, right?" Elijah asked, still shaken.

"Yup," Nik said.

After a few moments the light was gone again.

"Why do I have a the creeping feeling that whatever just happened wasn't a coincidence with us being here?" Nik said with gritted teeth.

"Because it isn't," Elijah replied. "I heard them talking. They all wanted us out of the way. They wanted to distract us."

"Distract us from what?" Rebekah asked.

"I don't know. I take it from whatever the coven just released into the sky."

* * *

 ** _1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_**

They all sat in a circle, Elijah, Rebekah, Nik and Esther. It was still raining outside the small chapel. Nik couldn't remember the last time they were that happy. Esther had quickly regained her conscience after she had woken up. Nik still couldn't fully believe that she was actually in front of him, alive and talking. After the initial moment of realization and the hugs and excitement that had followed they had all gone inside to talk. It had dawned in the mean time and they had been sitting in the chapel for that last few hours.

Esther sat between Rebekah and Nik and held one of their hands each. Her hand was warm in his own, and this warmth extended through his whole body. They had told her, mostly in rough simplifications, where they had been and what they had done in the last centuries. The siblings seemed to have come to an unspoken agreement to stress the parts on what places they had seen instead of the less pretty events in their lives. Nik knew he wasn't the only one afraid of the judgement they could expect from a series of tales about murder and utter selfishness. Until now Esther didn't seem to be bothered by the seeming lightness of their stories.

Rebekah had just told her mother about her life in France. Nik realized that despite Rebekah's long tale how short their time in France was compared to how long they had already been on this island. How absurd that those few years there felt like an eternity but the last 50 years just flew by in an instant.

"Rebekah," Esther said with a hearty smile, when Rebekah had finished her story, "you haven't changed at all."

Then she turned to the others with teary eyes. "None of you have. Still the same curious and lively children I remember."

Nik averted his eyes from his siblings. They could exchange looks at any time that reminded them why they had resurrected their mother in the first place. And then they'd have to tell her why she was alive. He couldn't bring himself to bring up the topic. None of them could. This moment was too nice to destroy it with a request that would definitely end the bliss they were in right now.

There was no doubt that they couldn't ignore the discussion for long though. Nik knew that Esther must have been asking herself why they had resurrected her. There was no reason on why they should postpone the talk any longer. It would only get harder with time. After a day of contemplating he and Elijah had exchanged the meaningful look he had been afraid of. He knew that Elijah had come to the same conclusion.

"I'm getting Rebekah, you get Kol and we'll get this over with," he said. Nik nodded.

He had found Kol in the kitchen of the only small house on the island, already in presence of their mother.

"Kol is cooking for me," Esther said to Nik with an amused laugh, as he entered the warm room.

Kol was the only one in the family who had mastered this particular skill, being the only one in constant connection with a non-vampire.

"Someone has to feed our poor mother," Kol said with a smile.

"And she has to eat all of this?" Nik looked at the huge pot of what looked like soup.

"I'm cooking for Briony, too," Kol replied.

"How is she?" Nik asked.

"Alright. Just very tired. She's sleeping right now I guess that's normal considering the whole ordeal she went through."

"I wonder," Esther began, "how did the witch end up with you here?"

"Funny story," Kol grinned. "It was actually Nik who tried to convince her to come with us. But that didn't turn out so well, did it, Nik?"

"Yes, hilarious times," Nik replied, his thoughts drifting away. All he could think of was how he could tell their mother about the immortality spell.

Esther glanced over the old furniture in the crowded kitchen. "I'm just curious about her motives."

"She wanted to help us," Kol asked, slightly confused.

"And you believe she only did that out of the goodwill in her heart?" Esther asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why would she have any other motives?" Kol asked.

"I've never met a witch with that kind of powers who doesn't have her own agenda when she pretends to help others."

There was something in her tone that Nik didn't like. It was condescendence. Kol must have felt it too.

"I think I can judge her actions better than you. You, who has literally just met her a day ago, don't you think?" Kol replied with gritted teeth.

"I'm only surprised you trust so easily after all these years," Esther replied, waving him down.

Before Kol could retort with a reply, that Nik was sure would make the situation even worse, he interrupted: "Elijah and Rebekah are on their way here. There is something we should discuss."

Kol looked at his mother, but then let it slide. He too must have remembered what Nik wanted to discuss. He was almost relieved to hear Rebekah's and Elijah's steps coming closer. A second later they appeared in the door. Many times they had already went through the conversation on how to ask their mother about the immortality spell. But now that the moment was here it seemed like an impossible task. Without saying anything Rebekah walked quietly into the room and sat down on an empty chair.

"There was something we wanted to ask you," Elijah began, as he slowly walked into the room and sat down across Esther.

Esther observed them with a slow nod. She didn't seem surprised that they wanted something from her.

"You see," Elijah fidgeted with his hands. After a pause he continued: "Recently we learnt something about this state we're in and about the spell you performed on us."

Esther raised an eyebrow.

"It looked like you made a mistake. This spell you made is not an immortality spell. It will only hold for about 1000 years. After that we'll die."

"Really?" Esther replied surprised. This seemed news to her as well. "How do you know?"

"Checked with a lifetime spell," Kol grumbled.

As she looked at his brother Nik could feel the icy tension between them. Then Esther turned away from him.

She sank back into her chair. "Who would've thought."

"So what we wanted to ask is…" Elijah continued with a dry voice. He didn't finish his sentence.

"Correct the mistake," Nik finished.

Esther turned to him in surprise.

"What? How?" she asked confused.

Nik shook his shoulders. "I don't know. You made the spell, didn't you?"

"You want me to prolong the spell?" She inspected him suspiciously and then looked at the others.

"Why on earth would you want that?" she asked.

"Well…" Elijah begun, but she interrupted.

"You not being immortal, that is good news," she insisted, while trying to smile. "You should know by now what terrible crimes against nature you are. Death will finally correct the mistake I have made all those years ago."

It felt like a punch in the stomach, yet Nik wasn't surprised by what she had said. She said exactly what he had feared. It would have been too easy. But they wouldn't give up now. They'll find a way to convince her, he was sure of it.

He walked without a destination in mind. Not that he could walk very far on the island without returning to the spot where had begun. More than ever he regretted that they had stayed on this small island for so long. After a while he ended up on the short sandy beach in the north of the island. To his surprise he realized he wasn't alone. Further down the beach he saw Rebekah sitting in the wet sand. Her face was buried in her hands. He didn't need to get closer to know that she was crying. He walked up to her and sank down next to her into the sand.

They both stared into the distance of the lake. Suddenly Rebekah turned to him.

"She called us a crime against nature! I mean who does that to their own children?! And if anything it's she who's done the crime! But you don't see us running around blaming her for anything!" Rebekah shouted between tears.

"Yup, it sucks," Nik replied.

Rebekah looked at him with anticipation.

"Don't you have anything uplifting to say?" she asked.

"Nope."

"If you're trying to comfort me, you're doing a very bad job."

He looked at her. "I wasn't aware that's why I was here."

Rebekah's eyes widened and with loud gasps she started crying again.

"Rebekah, I'm sorry. There's no upside to this. But we knew that before. All we have to do now is find a way to put with it. We need her."

"Well, if you have nothing good to say about it, I will do it. You could say, for instance, that we don't need her because we have each other. That everything will be fine because after all we've been through our bond between siblings is enough you need for a family. That we don't need people who don't care about us. That a mother's love is overrated-"

She broke off and began to cry again.

He put her arm around her and she pressed her head against his shoulder. Again Nik felt angry about his mother. Not because she didn't want to help him, but because the words she said had hurt Rebekah so much. Usually, that's what he'd say. That they didn't need people who didn't care about him and his siblings. But with Esther it was different. They needed her more than he wanted to admit. Not only for the spell. But as a mother.

"We'll figure out a way," he eventually said. "There will be a way to convince her that she truly cares about us. And then she'll help us."

"I know it," he said determined.

Rebekah didn't reply. He doubted that she'd actually believe him.

"Until then," he continued, feeling that this hasn't been comforting so far, "we just need to stick together. If she doesn't care about us that's her loss. But you, me, Elijah, Kol, we care about each other. That's something. Probably even Finn cares about us."

Rebekah gave a small laugh at the last remark.

Nik looked over the shimmering lake in front of them. He knew that the end of their worries was nowhere near in sight.

* * *

 **To the awesome guest person with the Kol theory: So yeah, sorry that I destroyed that theory when I said that Kol won't be in the present time any time soon. Would have been a great idea though! Funnily enough, you aren't that off with the rest of your theory :-)**


	20. The Undead Will Do

**_Present Day_**

With leaping steps Davina rushed along the quickest path to the cemetery. It was further than she remembered but she didn't dare to slow down. What if anyone had seen her leave? Would they be suspicious? Her chest hurt from the cold night air. Now she regretted that she hadn't prepared this part of her plan. In a situation where she had to retrieve someone from a grave, she'd probably need a shovel.

Only as she entered the tall iron gates of the cemetery she allowed herself to stop for a second. She hurried along the small paths between the graves, looking left and right every few steps. It was quiet around her. That was good. She had never been in this part of the cemetery but she had an idea where the grave she was looking for could be. The weird event that happened in the 1920s, where many witches had died, had been publicly declared as a mass suicide. Davina knew that this wasn't true. But she knew that everyone that had died that night was buried in a vaul in one corner of the cemetery.

To her relief the small gate to the vaul wasn't locked. She pushed it open with more loud creaks that she had hoped for. With determination she stepped down the stairs to the vaul. It took a moment for her eyes to adapt to the darkness. Some moon light glimmered inside through a small window on top of one of the walls. She could make out the general shape of the room and recognized the marble wall to her left that was divided in squares with small stone boards with names on it. Still, it was much too dark to recognize anything. She took out her phone used it as a weak source of light. Then she walked over to the name boards and shone her small light onto them. Hurrying, she passed from one to the next, realizing that they were all strangers. Until suddenly her heart made a leap. She had found the name she was looking for.

Her fingers surrounded the marble wall that was in front of her and her short lived feeling of success disappeared again. If there were any remains of Briony left they'd be behind the marble wall behind that name tag. The marble was heavy and didn't move. She had no idea how to open that. Suddenly digging up a grave without a shovel seemed so feasible. She turned around and lit up the other parts of the vaul to look for anything to break the wall open. It was discouraginly empty.

"Davina?" she heard a male voice say.

Her blood froze. She spun around and her phone fell to the ground. Although it was dark she could recognize who it was.

"Louis?" she said, trembling. "What are you doing here?"

"The better question is, what are you doing here?" he said, while holding up a flashlight.

The light startled Davina's eyes and she held up her hand for cover. She hesitated. What could she say to get out of this?

"I don't know what you mean," Davina lied. "Why are you following me?"

Louis waited for a second, as if he hoped that she'd give a better reply to his question. Then, what seemed out of patience, he said: "I've been suspicious since this morning, why you would help after all that happened. And you have to admit, you running away right after that big spell failed is suspicious. That's why I followed you. So again, what are you doing here? In a crypt in the middle of the night? Do you know what happened?"

She considered him for a moment. There was no lie she could think of that would explain all this. No, she had only one choice and tell the truth.

"Do you think what we tried to do tonight was good, Louis?" she asked. "I mean, do you want to resurrect someone who kills all the vampires?"

"What has that to do-"

"Do you?" she interrupted him. She wasn't sure where she got this new found courage from. "Do you want all of them dead?"

He sighed. After a pause he replied: "I mean it's a bit extreme, yes. But there is no alternative."

"Yes, there is," Davina replied quickly.

"What?" he asked.

"The solution is in there," Davina nodded towards the marble wall she had been trying to open.

Louis directed the flashlight to the stone wall, unimpressed. "What are you talking about?"

Davina hesitated. Telling Louis everything could go really wrong.

"I know why the spell didn't work," she began.

"Yes?" Louis said, taking a step closer, pointing the flashlight to her again.

"It didn't work because Niklaus didn't kill his mother. I don't know why Freya believed that, but she was wrong. That blood couldn't resurrect his mother. Instead it worked on someone else."

"Who?"

She nodded to the marble plate. "Her. She was a witch. She was killed when power heap was created."

"Oh," Louis said, and he looked around, realizing what vault they were in. After his moment of realization he turned back to Davina: "But why didn't you tell the coven about this?"

Davina shrugged her shoulders. "I…" she tried to put the words together. To be honest, she had a hard time to explain why she hadn't told the coven. She didn't trust them, yes. She was sure they'd change their minds if they knew that spell resurrected someone else. That resurrecting someone who wouldn't be willing to kill the vampires was not good enough. It just seemed so unwise to tell them. But then, she realized now, it wasn't very wise to think that she could handle all of this all by herself either.

"I think," she tried again, "that the witch in here doesn't want to kill the vampires, because she was their friend. But I know she has the powers to keep them away from New Orleans."

"That doesn't explain why you didn't tell anyone."

"Do you think the coven would be fine with this? They are dead set on killing them. They would have never gone through with it. But one day they'll thank me for this."

Louis observed her for a while. After a long pause he said: "First of all, I don't like this." Then he asked: "You think it actually worked? That there is someone alive in there right now?"

With a worried face he looked back to the marble wall.

"Pretty sure," Davina replied.

"I'm not saying I'm helping you," Louis said, "but if there's actually someone in there we should get her out right now."

Davina nodded. Then Louis turned away from her and scanned the room with the flashlight. He stopped at the iron gate they both had entered. One of the iron bars was broken and sat loose in its socket. Louis pulled it out. Davina was impressed. He was much more practical than her.

He handed her the flashlight. "Point it to the marble plate," he directed.

Then he smashed the bar at the edge of the outstanding marble plate. For the first few hits it didn't move at all. Then after another several blows it began to crack. And without any further warning the marble plate suddenly came loose and smashed onto the ground, and broke into many pieces. The shattering noise echoed through the vaul. If anyone else was in the cemetery, Davina was sure, they'd have heard them now. After the dust had settled she pointed the flashlight into the dark hole in the marble wall that was left behind. The head of a dark dusty coffin sat further down in the small tube of the marble wall.

"Alright," Louis said, mostly to himself it seemed.

Then he stepped closer to the hole and carefully began to pull out the coffin. After carrying out a third of its length, he said: "You have to help me if you don't want it to smash to the ground."

Hesitantly Davina put the flashlight on the ground and walked to the hole, ready to hold on to the coffin. Now that the coffin was before her, the whole thing felt much more real. As Louis pulled further, she held on to the coffin, trying to be as far away from it as possible at the same time. Part of her was scared that someone was jumping out of it any second. Or what if they opened it and they faced some rotting skeleton? Both sounded terrifying.

They slowly placed the coffin on the ground. Immediately Davina picked up the flashlight again. Being the source of light at least gave her some confidence. They both stared at the closed coffin. Then they looked at each other.

"Do you wanna open it?" Louis asked.

"After you," Davina replied.

Louis shook his head, but slowly knelt down nevertheless. With one last deep breath, he pushed it open. At the same time he sprung up again, getting into safe distance. Davina shook from the fast motion but forced herself to look and keep the flashlight focused on the coffin.

Then she saw her. The body in the coffin was intact, not rotten at all. The woman in the coffin looked perfectly fine, but had her eyes closed. As if she were sleeping. The dress she wore was dusty and greyish, as if it had been packed away in a box for hundreds of years. Davina scanned her face. She was breathing. Yup, although she wasn't moving, she was definitely alive.

Louis too stared at Briony in disbelief. "I guess you were right."

* * *

 ** _1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_**

There were times where the siblings ignored the actual reason why they had resurrected their mother and were just happy she was there. But when the discussion of immortality came up the tension rose again. Several weeks had passed and Esther hadn't moved away from her initial reaction.

Even Nik had to agree that it was useless to keep bringing it up and let her be instead. Maybe with time she might turn around, and they still had some time left. He traced the paths around the island again, trying to keep his mind occupied. He walked up to the cliffside until he reached the edge of the island. As he had walked up he had already seen Elijah standing there, looking out on the wide lake. Until now, Elijah had been the most patient with their mother, but him being here so far away from the house suggested otherwise. His look was focused and somewhat skeptical. As Nik reached him, he still had his eyes on the water. Before Nik had the chance to say anything, Elijah already turned to him.

"There's a boat coming our way," Elijah said and nodded to the distance.

Nik saw it too. It was a small rowing boat with two figures on it.

"Wait, is that -" Elijah suddenly exclaimed.

Nik saw it too. One of the figures looked very familiar. It was Finn. How did he even know they were here?

They ran down to the beach as the boat was steering that way. Shortly after the boat arrived in the sand. Only now Nik realized that the other person in the boat was Flora. He had to admit he wasn't happy to see his brother, and he had the impression that Finn felt the same towards him. As they clung out the boat, Finn gave a small nod into his and Elijah's direction. Nik wasn't sure what to do with it. If Finn thought that they were expecting him he was wrong.

A second later Rebekah pushed Nik to the side, rushed by him and stopped only just before the boat.

"Finn!" she exclaimed and hugged him.

"You got the message!" she added.

"Wait, you contacted him?" Nik asked, confused and angry.

"Someone had to do it," Rebekah replied with a matter of factness. "This is too important to just exclude him from it."

"Is it true then?" Finn asked seriously.

Rebekah nodded. Then she pointed to the edge of the beach from where Esther came walking towards them. Finn's face sank and took a step back. After a moment of realization he rushed towards her. Rebekah followed him. Flora stayed rooted at the spot and looked at Elijah and Nik. She still looked at the same as 50 years ago. Then, without saying anything, she too followed Finn, but at a much slower pace.

Nik and Elijah looked after them and watched Finn's reunion with their mother from afar, both of them too baffled to speak. Finn seemed happy to see their mother again. Of course he was. Finn would have never helped resurrecting their mother. But now that they had achieved their goal, he was here to relish in their victory. Self-righteous prick, Nik thought.

He wasn't surprised that Rebekah had wanted to contact Finn. But he was angry at someone else who obviously had helped her. He left Elijah standing there on his own, and passed by the others without giving them another look.

He rushed up the beach and over the hillside until he found Briony sitting in the front of the small house.

"Did you contact Finn?" Nik exclaimed, as soon as he reached her.

Briony looked up, unabashed.

"Good morning to you too."

"You have something to do with him being here, don't you?" he said again.

"He's already here? That was quick," she replied.

"Why would you even contact him?" he asked her angrily, trying hard to restrain himself.

"Because Rebekah asked me to."

"Even after you heard me and Kol talk about what a terrible idea that is?"

"I wasn't aware that your opinion matters more than Rebekah's."

"That's not… You know how she is. Of course she wanted to contact Finn. But Finn will never help us with the immortality spell. He will only make things more complicated."

Briony observed him for a second. Then she said: "Nik, how does your mother feel about the immortality idea so far?"

"What does this have to with anything?"

"It's not that unfounded to get Finn here. He might be against immortality right now. But he doesn't know yet that he is actually going to die. I could imagine that could give him a change of heart. And more importantly, for whatever reason, he's your mother's favourite. Him being here could turn her around. Maybe she doesn't want to save you from death, but maybe she wants to save Finn."

"Don't presume to know Finn better than I do, just because you met him once for a few weeks. I know him and he won't just change his mind. For all I care, he just got his biggest wish served on a silver platter."

Briony shrugged. "I did Rebekah a favour and you have to deal with it. It's too late now anyway. He's already here."

He found the others back at the chapel in a similar position after they had just resurrected Esther. Only now, Finn was there too. As Nik entered the chapel, they all turned to him quickly. After a moment they picked up the conversation again without paying more attention to him. Nik felt like he was intruding in their conversation. Hesitantly he stepped inside and took a seat on a window frame.

"You can't be serious," Finn said to Rebekah, wrinkling his nose.

Then he turned to Esther. "You're not considering doing this, are you?"

Nik was astounded that they already had told Finn the whole thing while he was gone so quickly.

"I've been trying to explain that dying is a good thing -" Esther replied, but Elijah cut her off.

"No decisions are made right now. We're still discussing until we find something that we can all agree on," Elijah said with determination.

Nik knew that he meant until Esther and Finn would agree to prolong the spell. It was best to keep it vague for now. Rebekah agreed loudly. Nik observed the whole group. Flora sat besides Finn with crossed arms. She didn't seem to be interested in the conversation. Avoiding any eye contact, she leaned back in her chair, partially excluding herself from the circle. From time to time she gave Esther a contemptuous look.

"What's wrong with her?" Nik whispered to Kol, who sat close to him.

"Finn said she wasn't looking forward in meeting the woman who created vampirism. Apparently she still hung up about that," Kol replied.

"Really," Nik said in disbelief.

Flora looked back at him, evidently having heard their conversation. She gave him the same contemptuous look she had given to Esther and then resumed to looking at the ground again. The island suddenly felt uncomfortably crowded.

A clacking sound of steps came from the outside. A second later Briony's head appeared in the window frame.

"Kol," she whispered.

He turned and his face lit up. She made a hand movement for him to follow her, and he immediately got up. Nik watched Kol passing him and then looked back to Briony.

She caught his look and then said: "You can come too!"

With relief Nik got up as well. He'd rather spend the whole day fighting with Briony, than sitting here being silently judged and having the same discussion for the hundredth time.

"How is it going?" she asked, when they were both outside and put some distance between them and the chapel.

"What do you think?" Kol asked with sarcasm.

Nik just nodded in agreement. Not only were they nowhere near with Esther, but now they also had to deal with Finn. Nik couldn't imagine that this situation would resolve any time soon. Briony didn't seem to be bothered by it.

As they walked up the stairs again she said: "While this is underway with everyone being here, and I'm pretty much back to full speed with my powers, I thought we could work on the rest of the spell."

"What is that good for if we haven't persuaded Esther to help yet?" Nik asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry to say it but you might not be the best person to convince your mother to give you eternal life. Neither am I. And neiter is Kol," she gave Kol a judgemental look. "Way to start a fight on the first day of her being here, Kol."

"She was being very rude!" Kole exclaimed. "She doesn't get a pass for that, just because she was dead!"

Briony turned back to Nik. "Anyways, let Rebekah or Finn figure her out. Instead we should focus on what we can do."

"What do you mean," he asked.

"Let's consider the possibility that your mother actually agrees to help. Although I can't do the spell for her, we can speed the process up a little by preparing as much we can. For once, we can make sure we got all the ingredients ready," she explained.

As she reached the top of the stairs, she stopped and added: "We need a doppelganger."

"There are no living doppelgangers, Briony," Kol replied, catching up with her.

"In that case the undead will do," she said. She observed their expressions.

Nik understood what she was getting at.

"Do you think a vampire's blood will actually work?" he asked carefully.

"I don't see why not. If Katherine gives it to us by choice we should be fine."

Kol laughed. "Oh yeah, convincing Katherine to give us her blood won't be a problem," he snorted. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled to help."

Nik shifted from one foot to the other. He sighed. "Yeah, I doubt that she'd agree to that."

"That's the understatement of the century. I think it would be easier to resurrect another mother again than convincing Katherine to help us," Kol replied.

"It's also in her interest that she doesn't die," Briony said. "And unless you want to wait around for a new doppelganger to show up it's the only choice we have."

Nik contemplated on the idea. To his own surprise he wasn't as disheartened about it as Kol. He couldn't imagine that Katherine would ever help them. Not after everything he'd done to her. Somehow he had always known that this would bite him in the back one day. Yet this task seemed acceptable, almost agreeable, compared to trying to talk to Esther for the next decade. Going to look for Katherine, instead of staying here with Esther and Finn sounded like a holiday.

"I'll figure out where she is, and then Kol and I can get her," Briony concluded.

"No," Nik interrupted. "I'm coming with you."

Briony's face fell. "You'll only scare her away, Nik," she replied. "She'll be gone before we even have the chance to talk to her."

"I'm coming with you," Nik repeated.

"You really do have trust issues," Kol added with a sigh.

"Fine," Briony replied. "He comes too, I guess."

They had begun with the preparations for the journey right away. Kol and Briony hadn't been in a hurry, but with a new-found task and new-found energy Nik pushed them to get going as soon as possible. When the rest of his siblings and his mother had finished their discussion and joined them at the house, Nik told them of their plan. Rebekah nodded eagerly and was pleased with their anticipatory planning. But it was evident that the rest of them weren't so happy about it. As he had explained their plan, Esther only watched him skeptically. And even after he had finished she didn't reply. He didn't expect her to like it. Any step closer to the spell was one step too many for her. Elijah too looked wary.

"I want to come!" he said suddenly.

"We can't all go!" Kol replied, slightly put up with his brothers. "It will slow us down. And we already have to bring him." He nodded to Nik.

"Take me instead then," Elijah pleaded. "She's never going to talk to you when she sees him."

"No!" Nik interrupted. "I'm certainly not giving up my spot for you."

"We won't be gone for long, anyway," Kol tried to console him.

Elijah kept arguing, but the others didn't change their mind. After the group began to dissolve - Nik didn't even notice when Esther had left - Nik resumed to prepare for the journey. Elijah kept following and pleading for him to come along as well. Nik agreed with Kol though. It made more sense to stay as few people as possible. Like this they would be quicker and more efficient, he thought. He was about to move back to the chapel again to pick up some things but Elijah held him back.

"Don't leave me here alone with them," Elijah said, nodding towards Finn and Flora, who were still outside the house.

"Sorry," Nik replied, feeling some pity to leave Elijah behind. "We'll be back soon."

After another two days the three of them finally set out on the small boat that Finn and Flora had arrived on. As he rowed away, Nik looked back on the island. He wasn't sorry to leave it.

* * *

 _ **Whaaaat I already wrote 20 chapters of this?! Thanks for sticking with me until now :-)**_

 _ **I'm looking forward to the next chapter! Chapters with Katherine my favourites to write!**_

 _ **As always let me know what you think in the comments!**_


	21. The Wave

**_Okay it took me forever to update this story. For some reason I had more inspiration to write chapters 22-26 before I wrote this one (on a good note, more to come soon!). As always, I hope you like it and let me know what you think in the comments!_**

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

Rebekah searched the sky for anything else unusual. The green light had disappeared, but maybe something else could give them a clue. She and her brothers still stood on the hillside that overlooked the town. They shouldn't stay here. For now they had gotten away from the werewolves. Yet they could catch their scent again. Or had the werewolves given up because they had distracted them long enough from whatever the coven had done? Rebekah turned back to her brothers. Elijah was sitting in on the ground, holding his knees. Most of his wounds had healed but he still looked terrible. She couldn't imagine what he had gone through during those two days in capture. The half hour she had spent in her werewolf venom delirium probably were nothing compared to what had happened to him.

"Let's go home," Rebekah said, moving towards him.

Elijah looked up and nodded.

"Absolutely not," Nik replied. He stared into the distance where the green light had appeared. "We need to go there right now."

"It can wait. It's too late now anyway," Rebekah replied. She kneeled down to Elijah who still sat on the ground. He looked weak.

"This cannot wait! The witches are there right now, plotting against us, declaring war against us. We have to stop them now, while they are there and weak!"

"Look at him." Rebekah gestured to Elijah: "We are too weak for a fight!"

"Fine," Nik rolled his eyes. "You bring him home then, and I'll go by myself. I can figure this out on my own."

Rebekah wanted to retort but a second later he had already disappeared. She jumped up and stared at the spot where he just had stood. She hated it when he did that. Frustrated, she kicked a rock into the far distance.

"We have to follow him," Elijah grumbled, and got up.

They ran across the hillside, through the forest, in a relatively straight line, to where the green light had been, and to where Nik had been rushing to.

"Don't slow down because of me, Rebekah," Elijah said somewhat behind her.

She almost hadn't noticed herself, but she realized it was true. They were much slower than usual because unconsciously she had made sure he could keep up with her. She stopped to look at Elijah.

"I'm fine," he said quickly.

When he saw that this response wouldn't suffice for her, he corrected himself: "I'm fine enough. I'll catch up with you. Just make sure our brother doesn't obliterate the whole witch community tonight."

"Alright," Rebekah said eventually, feeling guilty to leave him alone again. "But hurry, don't lurk around in the forest for too long."

And a second later she swept off, hoping to catch up with her other brother soon.

As she drew nearer the smell of blood and fear clung through her nose. _What have you done, Nik?_ Her legs became shaky as she got closer. She didn't even have to find him to know that in that short time since she had last seen him many people had died. She couldn't explain how the time had gone by so quickly. Had she been that slow? Why on earth was Niklaus so damn efficient when he wanted to murder people?

When she had reached the small glade in the forest she stopped. The sheer terror in front of her eyes was so overwhelming the only feeling she had left was a numb acceptance. Far away she heard some rushed steps of people running away. She knew that her brother had let them escape on purpose. She found Niklaus in the middle of a glade, staring at the bodies, his body slightly shaking, moving back and forth. There was no remorse in his eyes. She didn't know what to say, what to feel. Had she actually believed that she could stop him? Did she want to stop him in the first place? To be honest, she didn't care too much about the dead witches in front of her. Yet, out of principle, she felt like reprimanding him. He turned his head to Rebekah.

She closed her eyes, and after one long breath, she said: "What on earth, Nik?"

As he replied she looked down on the bodies again. There were at least 10 or 15. She didn't even listen to her brother's words. She was sure he had some great excuses why he did it, some overall great speech that'd convince her to listen, but she couldn't be bothered right now.

"Wait, was Freya here as well?" Rebekah suddenly interrupted him, quickly turning to look at all the faces on the ground.

"No," Nik said, seemingly annoyed by her question and her interruption. "Some got away."

"They're running that way," he added with a smirk and pointed down the path that led to the old town.

"How many witches are there even left anymore? Two? We can't just murder the whole town, Nik!" she asked with anger.

"There are more than two witches left," he replied with an eye roll. "Do you have any idea how many people were here when I got here? At least 40, and probably more that had already left."

"So what? How do these bodies help us now?"

"Why does that even make you angry?" he asked in disbelief.

There was something else that made her angry. The perpetual continuation of the problems that had been following her ever since she could remember. Why did she always have to deal with all the things that her brothers had done? It felt like her whole life she had been swimming on a giant wave that she couldn't get away from. And wherever it pulled her she had to go, no matter if she wanted to or not. Her constant battle to escape, to follow her own instinct, was useless. Every time she had tried to do what she wanted she ended up with her brothers anyway. She sighed with resignation. It was too tiring.

"Did you at least figure out what they want?" she asked with a sigh.

He looked at her in surprise. "No, I didn't ask."

"What?" Rebekah asked confused. "You did all this and didn't even bother to find out why?!"

Nik shrugged.

She shook her head with a grumble. It was too much. She didn't care anymore what he did. And she didn't care about the coven. If she just left now, she was sure, this whole ordeal would work itself out on its own. They didn't need her. With one swift turn she slowly began to walk back into the forest.

"Rebekah!" she heard Nik say behind her. "Wait!"

Her shoulders twitched, but she forced herself to walk on.

"Wait," he said again, and she suddenly felt his hand on her arm. With some hesitation and grumbling she turned around and looked at him.

"What?" she said shortly.

Nik looked at her in surprise. "Don't be like that."

"Oh, I'm sorry if the way I am is inconvenient for you," she sneered.

His expression didn't change. "You're not upset about the bodies. I know you good enough to know that you don't care about them," he said. "What's wrong?"

She wanted to sneer at him or shout at him, but part of her wondered why she should even bother. "Doesn't matter, you do what you want anyway."

He looked at her, still holding on to her arm. "Is that what this is about? Because I'm not listening to you?"

She looked at him reproachfully, which was enough of a response.

"What should we have done, according to you? Just let it slide?" he asked. He took a step back and rubbed his face.

"I don't just think about myself," he said in a calmer voice. "I care about you and what you do."

Rebekah crossed her arms, struggling with herself. "You never pay attention to what I say or wanna do. I don't wanna just follow you around my whole life."

"You are aware that it was your idea to go to New Orleans and we followed you here, right?" he said with a little smile.

She had forgotten about that.

Slowly he took some steps closer to her. He put his hands onto her cheeks.

"We're in this together, okay?" he said.

The sudden closeness let her forget where they were for a moment. Their lives could be so easy.

"Let's just leave," she said. "We don't wanna be here, do we?"

"Maybe not," he replied. "We are here now. And we might have dug out some problems that need to be dealt with before we leave."

She studied his face. The gravitas in his eyes didn't cohere with the situation. He wasn't worried about the werewolves or Freya. Then it struck her and she realized where they stood. She knew that this place felt familiar and now she understood where they were and what had happened here.

"You made me come here, and we're going to see it through until it is over," he said with a serious voice.

Part of her felt bad now for bringing it up.

In a blink of an eye Rebekah suddenly felt how his hands were ripped away from her, and a second later she saw Nik lying on the ground a few feet away from her. She looked back and forth between him and Elijah until she realized what happened. Nik held up his hand to his cheek bone that Elijah just had punched.

"You've got some nerve," Elijah said, while rubbing his arm. "Again you're trying to lull us in, after that stunt you've just pulled?"

Her head turned. He did it again. It only took five seconds, she had already felt guilty for bringing him here. And bringing him here? She hadn't forced Nik to come here, she reminded herself.

"Common," Elijah said and held out his hand to Rebekah. With one last glance to Nik on the ground she took it.

There was a bitter taste in her mouth. She didn't want to be lulled in. By neither of them. But she had no idea how to change that.

* * *

 ** _1800, Naples, Italy_**

Kol observed the narrow alley that led up to the main road. He could see the crowds passing through the main road from afar. From time to time a figure or two passed by them as well, but never stopping or even looking at them.

It had been surprisingly easy to find Katherine. But Kol figured that only showed how little effort Briony had given in the many times before she was supposed to look for her. This time it had only taken them two days to figure out where she was - Naples, Italy - and another week to travel across the Mediterranean sea to get there. Now they stood in front of the narrow house in the middle of the town of Naples where Katherine was supposed to live. It was absurdly easy. Kol was glad that Nik hadn't been questioning their supposed luck until now.

Nik took a step out of the shadow. Kol pushed him back again.

"You can't do that. We talked about this. If she sees you, she'll disappear before we can blink," he said to his brother.

"This is ridiculous. She's not faster than us."

"If she wasn't fast or clever, it wouldn't have taken you 300 years to catch her."

Nik looked offended. "You really wanna go there, Kol? It's not that Ka-"

Kol interrupted him. "Don't say her name! What if she hears you speaking her name?"

Nik rolled his eyes. "If she hears us speaking, then I don't think it matters anymore if we say her name."

Kol shook his head and turned back to the alley. "Your stealth skills are terrible. No wonder you never found her without help."

He could feel how his brother tensed in anger, but he didn't reply. A second later, the door next to them opened and Briony appeared.

"Are we set?" he asked.

"Yup," she replied. "As soon as she enters her apartment she won't be able to get out anymore."

Nik nodded. "And will Ka-"

"Don't say her name!" Briony broke him off.

He rolled his eyes again. Then he asked: "And she won't realize that you were in there?"

"Maybe she'll catch my scent when she's inside. But then it will be too late."

"And now we'll wait," she concluded.

After a while, Kol could hear a motion in the building above them. He looked at his brother. He too sensed it. She was inside the house now. They nodded at each other.

"Let's go inside," Nik said with a sparkle in his eyes.

In retrospect they should have planned the exact course of action of when Katherine would see them for the first time. Because as they entered her apartment all hell broke loose. As they pushed open the door to her apartment, there was a millisecond of realization whenKatherine stared at them. Then it took her about two seconds to figure out that all the entrances and windows were blocked and there was no way to get out. Then furniture began to fly into their direction, especially towards Nik. Kol had just enough time to push Briony behind him before a large cabinet smashed against them.

"Stop it!" he shouted, not at all surprised that Katherine didn't stop.

Nik threw an armchair back at Katherine, which swept her off her feet. In the short second that it took for Katherine to scramble up again and recharge with a heavy mirror, Briony shouted: "Don't!"

She held up a hand to Katherine, then turned to Nik, who too was ready to strike again with side table that had gone with the armchair.

"Don't," Briony repeated, this time with a calmer voice.

She turned back to Katherine, trying to sound as diplomatic as possible. "If any of us wanted to kill you right now, do you really think you'd be still alive?" Katherine paused, still holding a heavy mirror in her hands, reading to throw. Hesitantly, she lowered it.

"What do you want?" she asked briskly. Her eyes were fixed on Nik, obviously seeing the biggest danger in him.

Kol looked at his brother. Nik glared at Katherine with a mixture anger and interest. Kol knew that his brother had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. It would be too easy to kill Katherine right now. He hoped that Nik hadn't forgotten why they were here.

"There's something we need to talk about," Briony said.

"I doubt that," Katherine said, still focused on Nik.

Niklaus not saying a word didn't help at all. Katherine's hands were clamped onto the heavy mirror that she was now holding in front of her like a shield. Neither of them blinked, as if one millisecond of absence could mean an attack. There was no way that Katherine would listen to them like this. They had to get some things straightened out first.

"Nobody wants to harm you right now," Kol said, aware how little his words probably meant to her.

"Really?" Katherine snorted.

He looked to Nik. "He does, maybe a little. And she might be a bit belligerent towards you, because you almost smashed her with a cabinet just now. But we're good. So how about you listen to me?"

Katherine lowered the mirror. "We've never met, that's true." Then she turned to Briony with a smirk. "I see you took the nice brother for yourself. Maybe I've stuck to the wrong ones before and should follow your example."

Before the rest of them could react, Briony had already risen her hand. Katherine was thrown through the room and smashed against the closet behind her. The closet door shattered into thousand pieces. After a few seconds Katherine clambered herself onto her feet again.

With some pain in her voice, she said: "I see, jealousy is what pushes you over the edge."

Briony took a step closer and glared back at her. Her eyes were unpredictable and murdery. Kol was worried that she'd hurt Katherine again. Carefully he placed his hand on her shoulder, in the hope that this would somehow calm her down. Then he looked over to Nik. He wasn't any help either and looked at Katherine with the same contemptuous glare. And he seemed way too happy about the fact that someone else had inflicted on pain Katherine. From the three people around him, Kol was sure that at least one of them was going to strike out again soon unless he'd somehow stop them.

"Let's all just breathe for a moment, forget our murdery thoughts," he said in a slow and calm manner. "I can't believe that I'm the sensible one in this situation, but let me remind you that we're here for a reason and not to kill anybody."

The three others kept glaring at each other. After a few moments Briony eventually snapped out of it.

She said: "You're right." With crossed arms she turned away and took a step back.

"Why are you here then?" Katherine said confrontationally.

Kol exchanged looks with the other two. Briony sighed and gave her a detailed retelling of what had happened with the immortality spell. Speaking of the spell seemed to make her forget the anger she had towards Katherine. And Katherine too loosened some of her tenseness and listened tentatively.

"You're dying," Katherine concluded, when they had finished their story. "Huh." There was genuine surprise in her voice.

"That means you're dying, too," Briony added.

"And you came here to tell me this?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "How awfully nice of you."

"That's not all. There might be a way to stop it. With your help."

"Help you?" Katherine laughed. "You cannot be serious."

"Nik, you wanted to say something to Katherine, didn't you?" Kol said slowly.

Nik didn't reply right away but kept staring at Katherine.

Then, after what look like some internal struggle, he said: "Yes."

They all waited for Nik to continue. Kol nodded at him encouragingly. He had never thought that him being here was going to be so vital for this to succeed.

"If you're going to help us, I'll forgive you. I'll let you be," Nik said with a wearing voice. Kol could tell how much struggle his brother had to say that.

"Forgive me?" Katherine snapped. "Should I feel sorry now that I've been haunted for the last few centuries? If anything you should apologize to me!"

"Apologize to you?!" Nik exclaimed, as he took a step closer to her. "Don't pretend that-"

Kol interrupted him: "It doesn't matter who was at fault! The important part is that nobody will hold any grudges against anyone in here after this! We're all even, okay?"

He looked at his brother. Nik stared at Katherine, then he lowered his view to the ground.

"Right," he mumbled through gritted teeth.

Katherine who until now, was fixed on him, looked to Briony.

Briony nodded weakly.

"I come with you now, and after this is over I can do whatever I want?" Katherine concluded.

"Yes, I'll make sure of it," Briony replied.

"Not that you're giving me much of a choice here," Katherine said with a raised eyebrow and scanned the room.

Kol hadn't thought of that until now. It was true, they hadn't given her a choice at all. At least about the part where she had to come with them. Until Briony freed her from her apartment she was trapped, and after that Katherine was stuck with them without any likely way to escape. But this wouldn't be all. They could force her to come with them, but it would need to be her choice to help them. Briony had explained that Katherine needed to give her blood by her own free will in order for the spell to work. If she didn't this journey would have been for nothing. For now they had to be nice to her, convince her that this was something she wanted to do.

There had been only a few boat rides in Kol's live that had been more awkward than this one. Since the weather was rough and rainy they spent most of their time on the boat inside. They sat around the small table in their cabin. The only thing Kol could hear was the biting wind horning outside. Besides that they sat in complete silence. He would have liked to talk to Briony alone, but that was almost impossible with both Nik and Katherine around. Kol soon realized that being stuck with these three people in a small space wasn't ideal. Nik kept giving murdery looks towards Katherine. Katherine glared back at him and occasionally glared at Briony, probably still brooding about whatever happened in France. Yet at the same time Katherine was oddly glued to Briony, the only person that she had some sort of trust in. And Briony at the same time gave her jealous looks, still mad about the comments Katherine made about him. Kol decided that it definitely wasn't his job to resolve any of this on this boat trip. He was sure that Elijah or Rebekah would be better at this than him. Instead he just kept quiet, ready to intervene in case they decide to rip off each others heads.

After what felt like an eternity of him inspecting his shoe laces he realized that Katherine wasn't looking at Nik anymore. She was looking at him. There was no glare in her eyes anymore. Profoundly confused he looked down on the table. When he looked up again she was still focused on him. He didn't know what to do. He definitely didn't want to respond to it. When he turned to Briony, he realized that she had already noticed. Her eyes were narrowed and she pressed her lips together. But Katherine didn't pay her any attention. She seemed to relish in the fact that she ignored Briony so obviously. He wondered, if she actually wanted Briony to hurt her again. He could hear Briony's nails scratching over the wooden table. Any moment and she'd explode. He had no idea what he could do to stop it. She sat up straight.

Suddenly Katherine snapped out of it and turned to her. "Calm down, little witch. I have better things to do than taking your leftovers." And with that she left the cabin and went outside.

Briony's eyes were still fixed on the door Katherine passed through, focusing so hard that Kol was worried that she might put it in flames.

"You're aware that she's doing those things to tease you, right?" Kol said, after Katherine had left.

"She's such an insufferable woman!" Briony exclaimed.

"I know! That's what I've been telling people for years!" Nik replied.

"I'm glad you two finally found something to bond over," Kol weighed in, "but can we please keep the general disdain to a minimum until she has agreed to help us?"

"She's an ungrateful git," Briony replied, leaning back in her chair again. "After everything I've done for her…" she trailed off in her thoughts, grumbling to herself.

Kol tensed up a little. Briony was getting careless. Until now nobody in his family except him had known about the many encounters she had with Katherine. No matter what situation they were in right now, Kol didn't think Nik would take it well knowing that they actively had kept him from finding Katherine for so many years. He slowly peered over to Nik. He too looked after Katherine but didn't seem to grasp the full meaning of Briony's words. Kol leaned back, forcing himself to relax. It was going to be easier when they would be back on the island, he told himself. Then they'd be able to spread out and not to be constantly stuck together. It would take off the tension, he thought. He really hoped that was true.


	22. The Choice

**_Present Day_**

The witch slowly walked through her room, tracing Davina's possessions with her fingers. She seemed calm, apparently unbothered by the fact that she had just been resurrected. Davina's emotions were at the other end of the spectrum. Her heart was pounding. What on earth was she doing? How did she end up with an undead witch in her apartment? Louis' feelings must have been similar, she figured. He too gaped at Briony with widened eyes, not sure if she was a ghost or if he was dreaming. After many attempts to gather their courage they eventually had taken Briony out of the coffin. She hadn't woken up yet. Then they had carried her here, to Davina's apartment. And now, a few hours later, after she had woken up, neither of them had managed to bring up a useful conversation. It was just too bizarre.

Davina kept tiptoeing from one foot to the other. With crossed arms she watched Briony going through her things, too afraid to stop her from doing it. When Louis caught Davina's eye he a made motion towards Briony and gave Davina a wink. He wanted Davina to talk to her. She had no idea what to say.

"How do you feel?" she asked awkwardly. "Do you need anything?"

That must have sounded idiotic. Louis shook his head dismissively.

Briony turned around. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Social norms I guess," Davina replied meekly. Where had all her conversation skills gone?

With an unchanging facial expression Briony kept her eyes fixed on her but didn't reply. Davina didn't like that look. It reminded her of Niklaus. The few times he had eyed at her like that Davina had always assumed he had been planning her demise.

"Just tell her why she's here, Davina," Louis said.

"Yes," Davina replied, mostly trying to reassure herself. She contemplated on where to start. Then she turned back to Briony. "You were dead for about 90 years. The coven here in New Orleans resurrected you."

"That is nice to hear that the coven is still up and running after all those years," Briony's face softened a bit. "I assume when you said coven you meant more than the two of you?"

"I'm not in the coven," Davina said quickly, more out of habit. Wondering if that might upset Briony, Davina pointed to Louis and then added: "He is, though."

"Why do I have the feeling this is getting more complicated than it should be?" Briony looked back and forth between them. "Why am I here?"

"The Mikaelson family. You know them," Davina said.

Briony gave a small laugh. "They're still around? And let me guess, they're messing with everyone they come across? Why am I even surprised?"

"Of course," she continued, before Davina had a chance to answer, "that's the reason why anyone would bother to resurrect me. You want me to kill them, is that it?" She sat down in Davina's desk chair with a blasé attitude.

"Well," Davina begun, but Briony interrupted her.

"Let's make one thing clear. I didn't ask for this. I owe you nothing."

"I didn't expect you to!" Davina said quickly. "And that's not what we want at all."

Before Briony had the chance to interrupt her again, Davina began to recap the events that led up this point. She spoke fast and avoided any eye contact with Louis, fearing that this might throw her off, since some of the things she was telling would be news to him as well. As she spoke, she could tell that she caught some of Briony's attention. She began to explain the spell that had Briony resurrected, and how Freya had misunderstood the information she had learnt from Elijah and Rebekah during her capture. And how her thinking that Niklaus had killed his mother had led to the mistake in the spell.

"Why would they tell a stranger all this?" Briony asked.

"She's not a stranger. She's their sister," Davina replied.

"She's what?!" Louis exclaimed confused.

"That cannot be. They don't have a second sister," Briony replied slowly.

"It's true. Just trust me on that. They went through the whole thing many times. And Freya is their witch sister," Davina waved her down.

"She's related to them?!" Louis exclaimed again.

Briony watched him curiosly. "I imagine that this was their reaction as well? Oh, I'm seeing Nik having a heart attack right now," she said with a smirk.

"Is that why they took her? We thought they wanted to kill her!" he said, mostly to himself. "People died because of that! I almost died!"

"No, they don't want to kill her," Davina replied, not knowing what else to say.

"What do they want with her?" Briony asked.

Louis nodded at the question, wanting to know as well, yet with a much more upset and violent expression.

"Not sure," Davina said. "I don't think they even know themselves yet."

Louis walked over to the window with crossed arms. Davina felt bad for spilling out those secrets in front of him. She had nothing against Freya personally. And she understood why Freya had kept that information from the coven. But there didn't seem a way around it now.

"And now what? You want me to kill them?" Briony pulled her out of her thoughts again.

"No," Davina replied quickly. "We know that's not what you want to do. I read in your books that you were their friend."

"Maybe she does want to kill them?" Louis interrupted and turned back from the window again. "You must have some kind of grudge against the person who killed you?" he asked Briony.

"That is a smart assumption," Briony replied.

Davina wasn't sure what to make with that answer. She was tempted to ask what had happened when Briony had died. How she had died. Until now, Davina just assumed that Niklaus had killed her for some petty reason that night. But right now, she first wanted to tell her about her own plans.

"I just want you to… ban them from New Orleans," Davina said. "I know you can do it. I read about it in your diary."

Briony's eyes rested on her books on Davina's desk. "Wait, what year is it again?"

"2016?" Davina said.

"And they're still alive?" Briony asked. "Huh."

"So the banishment-" Davina tried again.

"Why don't you want them dead then?" Briony asked.

"For starters, I don't want to be responsible for a complete vampire genocide. I don't want all of them to die," Davina replied.

Briony observed her for a moment. Davina couldn't tell if she agreed with that sentiment or not.

"Be that as it may," Briony replied. "Even if I, for some unexplainable reason, decided to help you, I wouldn't have the strength to do it right now. Like myself, my powers have been dormant for almost a century. It will take a while until they're up to speed again."

"How long?" Davina asked.

"I don't know. Meditation helps," Briony replied without interest. "Problem is though, I don't really want to help you."

* * *

 ** _1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_**

The second the small boat had reached the shore of the island, Nik had jumped off and walked towards their welcoming party. He had never expected to feel like this but he was endlessly glad to be back on the island. Elijah and Finn had already been waiting for them, and he could see the others coming down to the shore as well.

As he passed Elijah he gave him a nudge. "We need to talk."

He took a few steps further but then noticed that Elijah didn't follow suit. He turned and saw that Elijah remained rooted on the spot and watched the other three that were getting out of the boat.

"You can stand around like an idiot later, let's talk," Nik said again, and pulled his brother away by his arm.

Avoiding the others that came to down the shore, he walked the other way down the beach until they were out of view and earshot of the boat.

"You're back surprisingly quick," Elijah said, as they stopped.

"Yeah," Nik replied absent-mindedly. He paused, the sudden sense of urgency he had when he had set foot on the island was gone.

"So what is this about?" Elijah asked.

"I…" he began. He had trouble describing that feeling that had been rising all the way back, ever since they had left Naples. "I was wondering if we're rushing into this."

Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Where does this come from? Did something go wrong while you were away?"

"Well, no. Everything went according to plan. The whole thing just seems so risky now. Maybe we shouldn't have acted so quickly."

"With we you mean you. It was you who pushed everyone to get through with the resurrection and it was your idea to bring Katherine here."

"True," Nik said. "Still." He knew that it was his fault. Ever since they had turned around and were coming back from Naples, he began to regret the decision to find Katherine. Even resurrecting Esther seemed foolish now. Why would he give so much power to someone who doesn't care about them?

"What is this secret gathering you're having here?" he heard Rebekah saying from further down the beach.

When she caught up with them, Elijah said without turning away from Nik: "He's having second thoughts."

Rebekah turned to Nik. "About what?"

"About the whole thing," Elijah replied.

"That's coming a bit late now that you brought the doppelganger here," she said.

Nik didn't know what to reply.

"Have you told him?" she asked Elijah.

"Told me what?" Nik asked.

Elijah and Rebekah exchanged looks. "It's actually something we've been talking about as well while you were away," Elijah said. "Going through with this plan so rushed might not work out the way we want."

"Exactly! We could die!" Nik said.

"We thought more about consequences in the case it actually works. There might be no consequences for us, but for the whole nature balance," Elijah replied.

"Oh," Nik replied. He hadn't thought about that. To be honest, he wasn't too worried about the consequences for other people if the plan actually worked. "So what do you suggest we do?"

"We thought," Elijah and Rebekah exchanged a look again, "maybe we should just not do it."

"And then?" Nik asked.

"And then nothing. We just don't do it," Rebekah said.

"But," Nik began, until he realized what they were getting at. "No!" he exclaimed.

"Maybe just think about it for a whi-" Elijah tried to argue, but Nik interrupted him.

"We're definitely not just let the spell run out its time and slowly die without a fight!"

"What then?" Elijah asked with an upset voice. "What else is there we can do?"

"We can think of something else. Something where we don't have to put our lives in the hands of someone who wants us dead!" Nik replied.

"There is no alternative, Nik! It's either Esther or nothing."

"I won't accept that," Nik said.

"Fine. You won't listen to anything we say anyway. Eventually you'll figure out we only have these two choices," Elijah replied. "Just let us know whatever you decide to do. I doubt you will give us much choice in the matter."

With that he turned around and Rebekah, after giving Nik one last glance, followed him. Nik watched them walking back to the others. This conversation didn't help him at all. Part of him was angry that his siblings gave him the responsibility to decide for all of them. He had to admit to himself, that Elijah was right. He wouldn't listen to them in any case. It was scary to make such a choice. But he was much more scared of letting go and giving the choice to someone else. No, he couldn't trust anyone else with that decision but himself.

The next day Nik had recovered some optimism. They had made it that far. He was sure there was a way to solve their problems now. He had found all of them collected around the small table in the kitchen. Briony ate breakfast. Next to her sat Katherine. When she saw him her eyes widened mixed with disgust and fear. He decided to ignore it. It was weird to glance over the centuries of hate he had for her, but right now, her being here meant something good and he tried to focus on that instead. Kol sat on the other side of Briony. He looked somewhat grumpy and stared mindlessly into the distance. At the other corner of the table sat Finn and Flora, judgmentally eyeing Katherine as well, and completely ignoring him. In between sat Elijah and Rebekah oddly focused on each other. Nik didn't exactly feel welcome but it was funny to see them all together. The general sense of awkwardness even when they were without him somehow cheered him up.

"Great, the committee of watching Briony while she eats is complete now," Briony said when she saw Nik.

"Funny how you all sit here. It's like when we all were on that terrace in F-" Nik didn't finish his sentence, as Rebekah sent him a nasty look.

"Alright, silence it is," Nik said instead, and sat down as well.

"I have no idea while the rest of you lot is sitting here when none of you eat anything," Katherine said.

"It's good to have some routine, even if you don't eat," Finn replied.

Elijah stared at him in disbelief. He looked like he was about to stab him with Briony's spoon.

Nik moved closer to the table. For a second his eyes crossed Katherine's. She twitched and moved closer to Briony.

"You don't have to watch me while I eat, Katherine," Briony moving to make some more distance between her and Katherine again. "Feel free to go outside."

"So that any of those vampires can finally kill me? No way. You're protecting me until this whole ordeal is over."

Briony sighed loudly. "That can take years! You really wanna be stuck to my heels until then?" Then she put her spoon down and turned to Rebekah. "She's insisting on staying in our bedroom while I'm asleep! Who does that?!" She looked at her pleadingly.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to regret being nice to you," Kol said.

"I doubt you guys could do anything that'd shock me," Katherine replied bored.

"I think I lost my appetite. I'm going for a walk," Briony said as she threw her napkin on the table.

She got up, and Katherine followed suit. She nudged Nik out of the doorway to pass him, Katherine gave him a nasty look while she squeezed through as well. As if she had waited for them to leave, Esther appeared at the door a second later. Crossing the treshold, her head was still turned, looking outside.

"The doppelganger's resemblance to the original is astonishing," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"That's why they're called doppelgangers," Kol replied.

Esther ignored him. "It's remarkable how quick you were able to find her," she added, almost in a tone of awe.

"Someone in the family liked to keep track of them," Kol said.

"Alive would have been better. But even though she's dead the spell would probably work with her," Esther said absent-mindedly. "If she'd agree to it, that is."

Nik and Elijah looked at each other. "Why are you saying these things?" Elijah asked.

Esther turned back to him. "I was just wondering. I have to admit the possibilities make me curious. Now that she's here," she carefully chose her words, "I might look into it."

They all stared at her in disbelief.

Finn was the first to break the silence. "You can't be serious."

"It doesn't hurt to consider the possibilities," she said diplomatically.

Finn jumped up, in the process throwing away his chair. "You cannot actually consider doing this!"

"Are you actually thinking about it?" Rebekah interrupted him and asked Esther instead.

Esther looked at her calmly. "Thinking about it, yes. I can't promise anything though."

Finn gave a disgusted gasp, and then marched out the door. Flora too seemed terrified by the prospect. She too got up and followed Finn outside.

After their rumble was over, Esther continued: "As I said, I can't promise anything. I might need some time to think about it."

Then she too left the kitchen again. The remaining looked at each other in surprise.

"Now that is a positive turn of events, right?" Kol said, slightly unsure.

Rebekah agreed with a surprised gasp. "You think she's serious?" she asked.

"I guess," Kol replied. "I don't think she'd bring it up if she hadn't something in mind."

Both Nik and Elijah hadn't said anything yet. Nik saw his brother staring at him, awaiting. He knew what Elijah was looking for. This was the moment. If Nik didn't want the spell to happen he had to say something now. Tell her to stop right now. Even considering it made him shudder. This first positive attitude he experienced from his mother gave his heart a little leap. He had to admit it felt nice to hear that she wanted to help them for once. He almost felt loved. No, he couldn't do it. He couldn't tell her stop looking into it, now that she actually agreed to do it. He lowered his head to the ground.

"We'll see what she comes up with," he heard Elijah say.

When he looked up again, he thought he'd seen some disappointment in his brother's eyes.

* * *

 **As always, I hope you liked this chapter! Thanks for reading :-)**


	23. Heart

**_Present Day_**

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Rebekah asked. She already regretted suggesting it. She had never expected Elijah to agree on it.

"No," Elijah replied. "But there is nothing else that we can do to save the damage."

Except leaving town, Rebekah thought. But one of the few things her brothers seemingly had in common was that leaving was not a viable option right now.

They stood at the corner of the street and looked down to the witch bar. Until now nobody had spotted them. She looked at her brother wearily. All the physical marks from his capture had gone, but his mind was trailing back to it. She could tell that from the anger in his eyes. He seemed to be in a very bad mood.

"They probably won't listen to us," Rebekah said.

That had been her suggestion: Giving it a last try to have a civilized discussion with the witches. Now she realized that her brother only agreed to this out of habit. Elijah on a good day might have even managed to talk to them, but not like this. The way he behaved was off. On their way here he hadn't said a word, his eyes drifting away in thoughts. Probably from his captivity, she thought. Rebekah began to prepare herself to do most of the talking. Maybe she'd even apologize for Niklaus and tell them that she had nothing to do with that. Whatever would not make them freak out.

"If everything else fails we should be able to figure out what they know, what they did," Elijah said.

Rebekah had the growing feeling that Elijah wasn't planning on being civilized at all.

They walked to the entrance of the bar. Rebekah could already tell it was packed inside, just like when she was there the first time. At least the murder of several members of the coven didn't influence the bar's happy hour. It was a good sign, Rebekah decided. With so many human bystanders here, there wouldn't be another fight. The second they stepped inside it became crystal clear which people in the bar were witches and which weren't. Most of the crowd didn't pay them any attention, but about a third gave them ice cold glares. Some immediately got up and rushed away, alarming other witches. Rebekah's and Elijah's plan was to find anyone they knew and could confront, preferably Freya. Her, they couldn't see.

Slowly they made their way to the bar. Rebekah looked for Freya or Davina but couldn't find neither of them. She tried to make out the bartender witch she had seen before, but he wasn't there either. She scanned the room. Many people observed them defensively, but none of them dared to come over to them.

"Rebekah," Elijah said.

She turned around and Elijah nodded towards the wall. He wanted her to listen to the other side of the wall, to the conversation in the back office. She recognized Freya's voice in an instant. She had an argument with a woman.

 _How could you make such a grave mistake, Freya?!,_ the woman shouted.

 _I told you. I don't know why it didn't work!,_ Freya replied desperately.

 _We trusted you! Do you know what kind of energy we wasted for this?!,_ the woman said. _And only to have half of us killed for it afterwards?_

 _They were not supposed to be in the woods!_ Freya said agitated.

 _It was foolish to think that this would work_ , the woman replied again.

 _Joan, what else can I say but_ \- Freya began, but something interrupted her.

A second later the door to the back office was pushed open.

"You have some nerve showing up here!" the woman snarled at Rebekah and Elijah. "You are not welcome here."

"We're here to talk," Rebekah said, aware of the emptiness of her words. But she had to start somewhere.

Freya appeared in the door as well.

"Funny! Is that what you call last night when you killed fifteen of ours?" the woman said with determination.

"Let's not pretend that you are innocent in all of this. What about the spell of yours last night? What about the fact that you sent a hoard of werewolves after us?" Elijah replied. "Don't pretend you wouldn't kill all of us in an instant if you could."

The woman glared at him.

"But you can't, can you?" Elijah replied.

Rebekah feared that this was getting too close into threatening territory, and took over: "What we're trying to say is: we can stop this right here, right now. We're not interested in killing people. Leave us be and we'll leave you be."

"You're not interested in killing people?" Freya replied with a snort. "What about last night?"

"That wasn't us. That was our brother Niklaus," Rebekah replied quickly. "We're sorry for that. He's sorry too."

This must have been the most ridiculous lie she had ever told in her whole life.

"Why on earth would we believe you?" the woman said.

"You don't have much choice, do you?" Elijah said quietly. "As the odds stand for you right now, you should be glad that we even offer this."

Rebekah had to keep herself from burying her face in her hands. So much for not threatening the witches. She thought that the situation couldn't get worse, but immediately regretted thinking it. Of course it could get worse. And she wasn't disappointed, when shortly after a man appeared from the crowd and joined them at a bar. It was Bastien Blanchard. He didn't pay them any attention.

"Are we having a problem here, Joan?" he asked the woman behind the counter.

The woman didn't have a chance to reply. Before anyone else, including Rebekah, could react Elijah had already swirled around and ripped Bastien's heart out. Elijah still held his heart, when Bastien slowly moved back and fell dead on the ground. It took a moment for everyone to realize what just had happened. Suddenly a girl on a nearby table started to scream when she saw the dead man with the ripped open chest on the ground. From one second to the other the bar turned into a hysteric mess.

Rebekah pulled at Elijah's arm. "Let's go, now!"

After some resistance Elijah gave way and followed her. They pushed their way towards the exit, which had become much harder to do now that everyone was on their feet and running around, shouting. Rebekah gave another few people a push to get them out of the way, and they smashed against the furniture. She heard the glass of the front window shatter. That push must have been a bit too hard.

She pushed herself out through the exit, still pulling Elijah behind her.

"Can you please let go of that now?!" she shouted at him, and pointed to her heart he was still holding in his hand.

He didn't reply and kept walking as the heart slowly swept out of his hand.

Rebekah marched back to the mansion without looking at him once.

"What was that about? What about the plan, Elijah?" Rebekah said, as she shut the door behind them.

"That was personal," he replied, observing his bloody hand.

Angrily she plucked out the small pieces of glass that were still stuck to her jacket.

"I hope you're feeling great about yourself," she snarled.

"Better than in the morning, actually," Elijah replied.

Frustrated she turned away and threw her jacket on the commode. Then she saw Nik who was timidly watching them from the sofa in the living room. They hadn't seen him since their fight in the woods before. He usually backed off after confrontations like this one. But seeing that the others were fighting even when he wasn't there apparently lifted his mood.

"Didn't work out so well, did it?" he said.

Rebekah could swear that she saw a small smirk on his face and considered breaking his neck for a second. But right now, her anger was still focused on her other brother.

"It would have if _somebody_ hadn't ripped out a werewolf's heart in front of the whole town and destroyed the whole bar in the process," she said through gritted teeth.

"It wasn't the whole town. There were maybe 50 people there, half of them witches who don't like us anyway," Elijah corrected her.

"The bar is destroyed?" Nik asked. "Nice."

"You two are unbelievable," Rebekah said with resignation.

"Hold on a minute, what I did is nothing compared to what Niklaus did last night!" Elijah replied angrily.

"How is it any way different, Elijah?" Nik asked. "If anything, yours was worse because the whole town watched you murdering that werewolf."

"It wasn't the whole town. I said there were maybe 50-"

"You're both terrible," Rebekah interrupted him. They all were.

"And just for the record," she added, "this was the last time I helped either of you. You're either listening to my ideas or I leave right now."

Nik and Elijah exchanged a look.

"Fine, your ideas." Nik said. Then he quickly corrected himself: "Anything that doesn't involve running away."

It was a start. Her instinct still told her the easiest way to solve their problems was by leaving town. But she knew she could never convince her brothers to do that. The hard way it was going to be.

* * *

 ** _1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_**

Elijah had decided that worrying about death was useless. It was too tiring. No matter what force of nature they would play with death would come sooner or later, or much later, depending on what spell his mother would come up with. Instead his aim was now to ignore what everyone was doing, and focus on the now. There was something else that occupied his mind anyway. It had been decades, centuries even, since the last time he had seen Katherine, but the second she had stepped on the shore, he knew he wanted to talk to her.

He found them near the chapel, sitting at the stone cliff that overlooked the small harbour. They were talking. It seemed like Briony accepted her new fate of having Katherine around all the time. He knew everyone else was at the house, which meant he didn't need to make up an excuse for wanting to talk to Katherine alone. That was good. When Briony and Katherine saw him they both turned quiet and watched him until he had reached them.

"I would have expected you were planning and working, now that Esther agreed to work on the spell," he said to Briony.

"She doesn't seem to want my help," Briony said. "Elijah, I don't think your mother likes me."

Katherine snorted. "I don't think she likes anyone on this island who has not come out of her womb."

"Serious family issues," Briony replied. She and Katherine exchanged a look and laughed.

He had no idea how to talk to Katherine without making Briony suspicious. But that was a risk he was willing to take.

"Can I talk to her alone, please?" he asked Briony.

First she eyed him curiously, but then her face changed to acceptance. "You know what, I don't even care. As long as I can be alone for once."

She got up and marched off. For a moment Elijah watched her getting up the stairs, until he eventually turned back to Katherine.

Hesitantly he sat down on the spot where Briony just was.

It was harder to speak than he imagined. The truth was he felt terrible now that he was here. How do you start a conversation with someone when you have literally done nothing to prevent their misery for the last few centuries? After he had kept his eyes on his hands for a while he hesitantly looked up to her. Her focusing dark eyes gave him a shiver through his whole spine. She had been watching him the whole time. But he had always liked that intensity about her.

He knew that she was waiting for him to speak.

"It's nice of you to help," he eventually said.

"I guess I was feeling benevolent that day."

"I mean it," Elijah replied. "After everything we have done to you. I didn't expect you'd come. You are pretty great."

Katherine smiled. "I have to admit, it did sound nice. Not to run anymore."

"Do you think he was serious? Will he leave me alone after this?" she asked.

"Yes," Elijah replied. "He must be. I wouldn't let him change his mind. I promise."

She turned away and looked at the waves that crashed into the rocks close to them.

"Why are you here, Elijah?" she said. Her voice sounded dry.

"I guess what I want to say is, I'm sorry, Katherine."

After a pause he continued: "I had been thinking of ways to help you, how to keep my brother from following you. But I didn't know what to do. There was nothing. At least nothing that wouldn't end with me being staked. I suppose that was pretty selfish and cowardly."

"I don't think you're a coward. And I don't blame you for thinking about self-preservation. Trust me, I get that."

"When this is over everything can be different. We can start anew."

"Do you really think this thing with Esther will work?"

"I don't know," Elijah replied, considering it as he said it. He wasn't with his siblings. He could tell Katherine what he really thought. "No. I don't think it will work."

"But even if it doesn't, 200 years are still pretty long," he added. "If they are 200 years we can live in peace that doesn't sound too bad."

"No, that doesn't sound too bad," she looked at him intently. Yet her face was much softer than before.

They looked at each other. He had always wondered if his feelings for her were a nostalgic reminiscent of the past. That his imagination of her didn't cohere with the real Katherine at all. And when he'd meet her again it wouldn't be the same anymore. But now that she was here — nope, the feelings were definitely still there. In fact, he had almost forgotten how much he liked to look at her face, her eyes and her lips, how much liked to listen to her voice. There was this mutual understanding. He didn't feel like he needed to ask if she felt the same. The prospect of what might come when the ordeal with the spell was over brought a smile to his face.

"There are many places I have never been. I don't even know why always end up at the same places. Instead we could go somewhere else every year. And since none of those people up there will bother us, we don't have to worry about their problems anymore either."

"Now that sounds a bit too much like wishful thinking. Also very exhausting," she laughed. "Just sitting at the beach for the rest of my life would already be fine by me. But to be honest, anything where I don't have to constantly run away sounds like paradise."

"You won't have to, I'm sure of it," he said, as he took her hand.

It was a beautiful fantasy. He couldn't explain himself why he hadn't had this idea before. The second Nik messed up the spell, and Elijah was sure that he would, he'd just leave with Katherine, leave everything behind. To hell with the immortality spell, if instead he can just be with her for the next 200 years.

Elijah heard foot steps coming down the rocky stairs. They were human. He and Katherine exchanged a look. She had heard them too. He let go of her hand. There was nothing else they could do except wait. His excitement slowly faded. If it was Briony already coming back he'd might throw her into the lake.

A few moments Esther appeared through the trees. He sighed quietly. They waited until she had reached them.

"There you are. I was looking for you," Esther said.

"Who? Me?" Elijah asked.

Esther shook her head. "No, Katherine," she said with a smile.

Something about her smile was off. Elijah wasn't sure if he was just imagining it. To be fair, he didn't know his mother well enough to tell if she was honest or not. He looked back and forth between her and Katherine. Katherine watched her with some skepticism.

"What do you want from her?" Elijah asked.

"I was wondering if I could talk to her alone," Esther said, still focused on Katherine with a smile.

"Why?" Elijah asked.

Esther turned back to him. "That would be between her and me."

Elijah hesitated. He wasn't sure if he had the right to interfere. He turned to Katherine. She considered the offer.

"Fine," she eventually said. Then she turned to Elijah: "It's fine."

Hesitantly, Elijah got up. He looked back a few times when he started his walk up the stairs, Esther watching him. He knew she wouldn't say anything until he was well out of earshot.

As he reached the top of the glade, he stayed rooted at the spot, contemplating. He didn't like being sent away. Maybe he should go back. He doubted that his mother would try to hurt Katherine. She must be aware that she couldn't, that if she tried there was someone to stop her in time. He tried to listen. Although he was too far away to hear anything they were saying, maybe he could make himself hear it just this one time.

"Your talk with Katherine is already over? That was short," he heard Kol say behind him.

"How do you-" Elijah began. Then he put the rest together himself. "Do you and your girlfriend have nothing better to do than talk about me?"

"Touchy," Kol said while lifting his hands.

A feeling told Elijah that his brother probably knew more about this situation than he would have liked.

"Why are you here, Kol? You must have waited for a moment like this, alone with Briony."

"Believe it or not, but her biggest desire right now was being able to sleep without a crazy woman watching her. And I let her. It's called 'giving people space.' You should try it sometimes. I know that's not a concept known to our family."

"Just stop talking," Elijah said, trying to focus on the shore again.

"Who's down there?" Kol asked.

"Esther and Katherine," Elijah said, giving up his attempts to hear anything.

"Really," Kol replied. "What does Esther want with her?"

"I don't know," he said. "She didn't want to tell me."

"And you just let her do that?" Kol asked surprised.

"What should I do? It's not a crime to talk," Elijah said.

Kol didn't reply, but Elijah could tell that his brother wasn't convinced. He couldn't blame him.

There was something else that bothered Elijah. Part him wanted to ignore it in the hope that it would never come up, but he knew he shouldn't wait and guess. Carefully he looked around to see if there was any sign of anyone else close, especially Niklaus. After he was assured they were alone, he hesitantly turned back to Kol.

"Why," Elijah asked hesitantly, "didn't you ask _why_ I was with Katherine?"

Kol turned around innocently. "What?"

"What do you know, Kol?" he asked again.

Kol observed him for a moment. Then he said: "Fine. I know that you quite obviously still have a thing for Katherine, and that those feelings are requited."

Before Elijah could ask, Kol continued with his answer: "I know that because I have the spent the last few weeks with her, with her being around us literally all the time. And you're pining after her ever since she arrived on the island. And she asked to talk to you once."

"Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone," he added. "God knows we're all keeping things from Nik for the greater good of our family."

Elijah tried to get his head around all that. It was a lot of information to swallow. But somehow he was reassured. He didn't think Kol was stupid enough to tell anyone.

"When did she ask to talk to me?" he asked.

"I don't remember," Kol said. "The other day."

Elijah heard foot steps coming up the stairs again. Restlessly, Elijah took a few steps closer. Esther appeared on the top of the stairs. Calmly she walked towards them. Katherine was still at the shore, Elijah was sure of it. He could feel her presence. Because of that he assumed she was fine.

"Lovely, two of the people I wanted to talk to," Esther said as moved closer to them.

"What did you talk about?" Elijah asked.

She eyed him curiously. "I just wanted to get to know the girl who agreed to help you. A very interesting life she has lived, I must say."

"What did she say?" Kol asked.

"Nothing to concern you," she replied. She took a few steps away from them heading towards the house, perfectly aware that they would follow her. "Anyway, this conversation led me to a decision. I think there is a reason why I'm back here with you again. If nature didn't want me to do something I would have stayed dead."

"What are you implying?" Kol asked.

"I will do it. I will do the spell."

* * *

 _ **As always, thank you for reading this chapter! Let me know what you think in the comments!**_

 _ **Since somebody asked about my writing/posting schedule: I'm aiming at posting one chapter per week. That might vary depending on how busy I am. If anything, it has nothing to do with a lack of inspiration for the story. I have it planned out until like chapter 50 or so - so I won't quit anytime soon ;-)**_


	24. The Neck of the Hourglass

**_Present Day_**

Freya wiped together the pieces of glass that were still scrambled all over the ground. It was darker in the bar than usual. Someone else had already taped the smashed window shut. Two others were cleaning the blood stained bar area, while a few others recovered some of the broken furniture. None of them payed her any attention. She knew that she was probably the most disliked person in the coven right now, but that wasn't going to stop her from helping out. Now more than ever she had prove that she was on their side. Some of the other witches in the coven were questioning her alliance now. She couldn't blame them. Thanks to her they had wasted so much power without any successful result. Her meddling had cost many lives. She wouldn't forget that too quickly. But some of the witches had suggested that Freya had done it on purpose, to weaken the coven. That she had struck a deal with the vampires while she was captured. That accusation was scathing, of course, and Freya was glad that Joan had dismissed those rumours. But even those who didn't believe that Freya had done it on purpose, those who just thought that she was an idiot who couldn't do a proper spell, wouldn't talk to her anymore. She felt lonely. The coven had always been a place where she felt included, but that was gone now. But she wasn't ready to give up just yet. Eventually they'd forgive her for her mistake. That stupid mistake. She still couldn't explain how the spell could have failed. Mindlessly she moved the piles of glass back and forth. Her head kept buzzing around the events, trying to explain them again and again. How could she make this kind of mistake? She was sure that Niklaus had killed Esther. Wasn't that what Elijah had said? She tried to remember the exact words in that conversation when he and Rebekah had told her about their mother. Ever since the spell had failed she had become less certain about her memories. It was foolish to jump to conclusions, to think that she had known anything.

"What happened here?" Louis said with a devastated look on his face. The opened door shed some bright light into the bar.

"Take a guess," one of the women at the counter said.

They gave him a recap of the evening before. Freya stayed quietly in her corner and watched the conversation evolve. So far no one had brought up the fact that they were blaming her for everything. That was somewhat reassuring. Louis looked terrified and took some careful steps through the bar, making a crackling noise as he stepped onto more pieces of glass.

"It will take days to fix all this," he said while scanning the room for every damage.

"Make weeks out of that," Joan said. "This is a crime scene for now. Before we had a chance to do anything, half of the people in here had alerted the police. And until the investigation is over we can't do anything."

"Not to mention the rest of the people in here who all saw some guy having his heart ripped out," someone added. "I don't think they'll come back too quickly."

Louis didn't reply, but only looked lost, scanning the demolished bar.

"Where have you been?" Freya asked.

It was the first time she spoke since he got here. She was almost glad to see him. Maybe he would talk to her. From all of them he was usually the most perceptive. And he hadn't been there after the spell or in the bar the night before, so he might not immediately put the blame on her like the others.

He turned to her, almost surprised to see her. He seemed distant. His eyes narrowed.

Then he said with a lot of restraint: "You have some nerve to be still here, after everything that happened."

Freya's heart fell. Her hope that anyone would have a conversation to her anytime soon vanished. She swallowed and waited, not knowing what else to say.

"I told her to go home, but she insists on staying here," Joan replied with a blasé tone.

Louis eyes stayed fixed on Freya.

"Were they here because of you?" he said with suppressed anger.

"What do you mean?" Freya asked confused. She had admitted that the spell was her idea, but blaming her for having a werewolf's heart ripped out seemed a bit harsh. Not sure where this was going, she took a step back.

"All of this happened because of you," Louis replied. "Those vampires are stuck to our toes because of you, aren't they? People died, Freya. And you never bothered to tell us that you are the reason why they're here in the first place!"

A huge knot pulled Freya's stomach apart. No, this could not be happening. How could he even know about this?

"What are you talking about?" Joan asked.

Freya clambered to the broom she was still holding. The whole room stared at her now.

"Do you want me to tell them?" he asked Freya.

She gaped at him, completely paralyzed. There was too much fear in her body to complete a full sentence.

"Fine," he said after a pause. Then he turned to the others. "It wasn't a coincidence that Freya was the one who got captured. They took her because she is their sister."

The words felt like a punch in her chest. She didn't dare to breathe.

The whole bar fell silent. After a pause, Joan said: "How is that possible?"

Then she turned to Freya with some skepticism: "Is that true?"

Freya's terrified face and silence seemed to be enough of an answer. Someone gasped.

"Have you ever been on our side?"

Freya wasn't even sure who had asked the question. It didn't matter. Now more than ever they had become a unsurmountable wall that she'd never pass again.

"Yes," she stammered. Freya battled to get her voice back. "I still am," she added with some more determination.

She didn't believe they had heard her last sentence, as they began to whisper to each other, while still eyeing her.

"It's not what you think", she said with an airy voice. Somehow she had to regain control. "I certainly don't see them as family. I've never met them until now."

"You said you recognized them from the 1920s," one of the women behind the bar said.

"I mean, yes, I met them back then but that's not what I meant," her head turned. Her babbling was not making any of this better.

"Why should we ever believe anything you say again?" someone shouted, before she had a chance to rephrase her thoughts.

Freya put her shaking hands on her temples. "I am not lying to yo-" she tried to say, but she was interrupted again.

"I say we keep her to bargain with the vampires," someone suggested.

Immediately Freya's blinked open again, her body ready to fight off any possible attack.

Joan raised a hand. "So that the vampires have even more reason to destroy?" Then she moved closer to Freya.

"Out of respect for what I believed to know about you, I'll just ask you one last time. You need to leave."

* * *

 ** _1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_**

It was happening. Niklaus had never dreamed that the moment would come so sudden. Esther had agreed to do the spell, and she didn't need much time to prepare. They had all come to realize that with Esther it had only been a matter of will to do the spell. Persuading her to do it had been all that was needed. Niklaus still didn't understand what changed her mind. That was bothering him the most. He had heard that she had been speaking to Katherine, but he doubted that she could have said anything that would change Esther's mind. And he had heard that Esther believed that nature wanted her to do something. Whatever that meant. None of this gave him the reassurance he was looking for. His stomach was aching. He had that too when they had resurrected Esther, he reminded himself, and that went well. So maybe it was a good sign, he tried to tell himself. Part of him wanted to stop her, while the other much bigger part wanted to survive.

"Can you say again what exactly you are planning to do?" Nik asked.

They stood on the meadow again, just like not long ago when they had resurrected their mother. But unlike then it was a clear sunny afternoon. That was good. At least this time he wasn't worried that the witch would die of pneumonia. He watched Esther unpacking some leaves that he didn't know. Flora had helped her setting up a fire before. First he had been surprised to see Flora here with them, and helping. But then again, he assumed that even that girl needed a break from mopey Finn from time to time. Him he hadn't seen since Esther announced that she'd do the spell. He had stomped away angrily and had ignored his siblings ever since. At least that was a good sign. As long as Finn was unhappy, it probably meant something good for Nik.

"We've been through this a million times," Rebekah said next to him impatiently. "Let's just get it over with."

Neither Rebekah nor Elijah had been helpful with the decision. And the growing impatience that both of them had to get the spell done only made him more anxious.

"It's fine," Esther said, waving her down. "We have time to go through it one last time."

"Imagine your life is an hour glass," she continued patiently. "It has a given amount of sand that runs through it. If the neck of the hour glass was loosened, the sand would flow through it faster than before. And if it was tightened the sand would be slower. It would take longer for the sand to run through, until it reaches its end. And that's what we're going to do. Tighten the neck of the hour glass."

"And what are these-" Nik meant to ask, but Esther interrupted him.

"Good, the rest of us is here," she said. "Then we can begin."

Elijah and Katherine appeared at the edge of the glade and walked towards them.

"Where's Kol?" Nik asked Elijah, as he had reached them.

Elijah shook his head. "I don't know."

"He went to look for his witch," Katherine said.

He turned to her instead. When she caught his look she added, while crossing her arms: "We don't know where she is."

They exchanged looks. It must have been the first time since Katherine was on the island where he didn't feel disdain but something like a mutual understanding between them. He could tell she was skeptical about the whole thing as well.

"I'll go look for them," Nik said.

He heard Esther saying something after him but he ignored her.

First he checked for them in the house, without success. Then he made his way down the chapel in the harbour. The second he reached the plateau, he knew that he was alone. It was too quiet. Just to make sure he checked the chapel anyway, but nobody was inside. His stomach began to hurt. He was getting nervous. Something felt wrong. Much faster than before he rushed up the steps. And if he had to check the whole island, he wouldn't stop until he'd find either of them.

After some more fruitless attempts, after he was already worried of how much time must have passed on his search, he decided to look for the boat. Even if he couldn't explain why they'd do it, maybe they had left and weren't on the island after all. He went down to the beach and rushed along through the sand towards the boat landing. That there were other foot prints in the sand gave him some reassurance. From afar he could see that the boat was still there. Someone was sitting next to the small boat. It was Finn.

His motivation faded. Slowing down, he walked towards his brother. Finn was sitting in the sand and looked out onto the lake. Nik was pretty sure that Finn had noticed him, but he kept his eyes to the lake. When he reached him he looked up.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on the hill with the others, getting your wish fulfilled, as always?" Finn sneered.

Nik decided to ignore the comment. "Have you seen Kol?" he asked.

"I assume he's on the glade," Finn replied.

"He isn't," Nik said. "Briony isn't either."

"Then they're off together somewhere else. And they probably don't wanna be disturbed by you."

Nik didn't even know why he bothered to ask. He knew that Finn was never going to help him with anything, even if it was simple question like that. He considered his brother in the sand. Although he was as defensive as usual, he didn't seem too bothered by the situation itself.

"I'm surprised by you, Finn. You gave up rather quickly with your fight against immortality," Nik said.

"What do you want? Are you here to rub it in that you won? How about you go back and wait until the spell is actually over? Don't you wanna be on the hill when it happens?"

After a pause Nik replied. "Why do you want me to be on the hill?"

"I don't care what you do, Niklaus," Finn said, and got up and cleaned off the sand from his pants.

Nik took a step back. Something was wrong and he didn't know what it was. His eyes wandered away from Finn and observed his surroundings. Everything looked fine. Was something going to happen on the hill? Should he go back? Then he saw a trail in the sand. It wasn't a foot print. It looked more like something was dragged through the sand, or someone. Within a millisecond he recognized Finn's look and realized that he was onto him. He swept into the direction of the trail, away from the shore, not sure what he was looking for. As he reached the tree line he almost fell over her. Briony lay on her side somewhat hidden behind a tree trunk. She wasn't moving. As he kneeled down to her, he could hear her heart beat.

"Don't worry, she's fine," Finn said, who had caught up with him. "I'm more careful with human lives than you."

"What have you done?" Nik demanded, swirling around again. His head was trying to process what this meant.

Finn didn't reply. Nik felt the anger rising in him. He took a few steps towards Finn and was about to hit him, when he glimpsed Kol lying somewhere further down the tree line. He recgonised the silver dagger that stuck in his back immediately. He wanted to rush over to him, but then stopped. He understood. Esther wanted to have Briony out of the way because she would realize if Esther didn't follow the plan. If Esther did something they didn't agree to. That's why Finn appeared to be so calm. Because the immortality spell wasn't happening.

He had to warn the others. He had to stop her. Suddenly he lost his footing and felt himself smashed against the tree. He grumbled, his reaction was too slow. The element of surprise was the only way how his siblings had a chance to beat him. Trying to get up, he already felt Finn's foot kicking into his face. His nose filled up with blood. He tried to get hold of any of Finn's legs, and after a few unsuccessful attempts he grabbed his ankle and pulled it with all his might. He heard a loud crack, and his brother fell on his back. He tried to get up again, smearing out the blood and dirt from his vision, when he was hit by an elbow. He had no idea where Finn had this strength from. On the ground again he tried to pull himself away from Finn who suddenly had a strong grip around his chest. With a lot of fight and strength he wrangled himself free, and fell down next to Kol. Immediately he knew what to do. He pulled out the dagger from his brother's cold body and pierced it into Finn's chest.

Thoughts were running through his head. There was no time to rest. He stumbled his way into a standing position and then he ran. He ran along the beach and up through the forest. A warm and dusty wind was rising through the air. It had already started. He ran even faster. His only thought was that he had to make it to the meadow before Esther finished her spell. He'd stop her no matter what it took.

As he reached the glade, he saw Esther standing in the middle, chanting. He couldn't see any of his siblings, but that didn't matter in that moment. He had to stop her. He had almost reached Esther when suddenly a giant wave of energy threw him off his feet. A cold pain burned itself through all his nerve endings that felt like it could dissolve his whole body. He waited for the hard smash onto the ground but it never came.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!_**


	25. The Neck of the Hourglass II

**_Present Day_**

Rebekah looked into her closet. Which clothes would she miss the least if they were destroyed today? The sad truth was that every time they had gone into town since they had come to New Orleans at least one of them had come back covered in blood, ripped apart or showered in pieces of glass. She had long given up on the idea that anything would be solved without violence. By now she knew that to think otherwise was useless. But she believed that her brothers would listen to her this time. At least for a while. As long as everything would work out fine. Instead of confronting the whole coven in public again, she opted for confronting only one of them. She had been to Freya's place before and while the last time hadn't worked out the way she wanted she had to try again. This time she wouldn't snap anyone's necks. And her brothers promised to do the same. Yet, there was no need to be civil to Freya, she decided. With her uptight and self-righteous behaviour she just didn't deserve it. All Rebekah wanted from her was to find out what they had done in the woods. Niklaus also kept pressuring her to ask Freya about the notebooks she took from the mansion. Rebekah knew that in all likelyhood they would not get them back. Even if they'd get them back, somebody probably has taken copies of it. But to humour him she'd ask Freya what they had done with them. Still, none of this was worth ruining more good clothes.

A warm long bright light shone through the half-closed curtains facing the front of the house. A thin veil of dust reflected in the sunlight. It reminded Rebekah of lazy summer days where she hadn't had to do anything and they could be carefree. It was almost summer. Maybe if she solved these problems quickly they could be lazy again. That thought was quite encouraging.

As she was getting ready she suddenly heard a voice from outside the house. It was Marcel. He was talking to someone. She walked down the stairs and out of the front door, and saw Marcel still with his phone in his hand.

"Who were you talking to?" Rebekah asked.

Marcel hesitated. But that already gave her the answer.

"Are you still talking to Davina?" she asked surprised.

"Apparently we are now," he said gravely. "I don't know what she wanted, she didn't want to tell me on the phone. But it sounded urgent. I'll probably go visit her."

Rebekah nodded slowly. Her own indifference about it surprised her a little.

"Are you keeping this to yourself then?" he asked.

"Yes," Rebekah replied. "I don't wanna do yet another witch hunt after this one."

"This one?" he asked. "Are you going to Freya?"

"Haven't you heard? We're following Rebekah's plan now," Rebekah said. "Or at least Rebekah's alternative plan. My instinct still tells me that we should have left long ago."

Marcel put his phone in his pocket, and replied: "I'm actually agreeing with your brothers for once. You already left, but the past still came back to haunt you. Confrontation might not be the most appealing alternative, but eventually it's the only way to get past your problems."

"Isn't that the perk of being a vampire? Waiting until your problems just die out?"

Marcel laughed. "That'd be a lot of waiting and wasted time if you ask me."

"And _if_ you ask me, which none of you evidently did, I would tell you that you're barking up the wrong tree," he added. "Do you know what Marcel's plan would have been? Instead of running after your sister, I'd be dealing with the real problem here, which is that your brother just killed high ranking werewolf. Freya looks pretty harmless to me."

"Those who look harmless are usually the most dangerous ones," Nik said as he walked towards them.

Rebekah turned around. "Stop sneaking up on people. It's a terrible habit."

"I wasn't sneaking up on you," Nik replied irritated. "I'm just patiently waiting for any instructions on when we're leaving."

"You're not coming," Rebekah said.

"Of course, I am" he replied.

Rebekah knew that this was already a lost battle. "Fine, I'm leaving in two minutes. I won't wait for anyone who's late."

"I'm getting Elijah," Nik said with a small smirk.

When she was sure he was out of earshot, she said to Marcel: "Just tell her to get as far away as possible."

In front of Freya's apartment complex there were still the dried out remnants of a dark red puddle on the ground. Rebekah was surprised that nobody took care of the place.

"Was that you, Rebekah?" Nik asked with genuine interest.

"They should clean more often," she replied without looking back.

They walked up the stairs until they reached the landing of Freya's apartment. It looked cleaner than outside but there was still a smell of death in the air.

She knocked at the door. There was rumbling noise from inside the apartment, but nobody opened the door.

"See, I told you, she's not opening the door for us," Nik said, leaning on one side of the door frame.

"She doesn't know it's us," Rebekah replied and knocked again.

"Not yet," Nik said.

Rebekah knocked a third time, trying to keep it a light knock. She imagined that this was the kind of knock that a peace-seeking person would do.

Trampling foot steps echoed from the other side of the wall and grew louder. A second later the door was ripped open.

"What?" Freya demanded angrily.

Her hair was disheveled and her eyes somewhat swollen. She was upset about something. Taken by surprise, Rebekah moved back a little and bumped into Elijah.

"Oh, it's you three," she said with an artificial laugh when she recogonized them. "Just splendid. The day just keeps getting better."

Without paying them any more attention, she turned away again and walked to the other end of the small hallway were she had gathered piles of books and files. The door stood wide open and Freya didn't seem to intend to close it anytime soon. In a different corner, Rebekah saw a large suitcase and several half filled bags.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked.

"It's impossible to keep anything from you, isn't it?" Freya replied with gritted teeth, without looking up from her files.

"Wait," Nik said, as he held out his hand into the apartment. "There's no barrier. You're not keeping us out."

He took a step inside. Rebekah and Elijah slowly followed suit.

"I take it it's not because she invited us," Rebekah quietly said to her brothers.

"No, it's definitely not because I invited you," Freya slapped her last file onto the pile and then turned around to face them again.

"Funny story: You remember hat landlord that 'mysteriously' died? Turned out he was in debt, and the first thing his next of kin did to get out of it was selling this house. Which means I have to leave this place by the end of the week."

"Oh," Rebekah replied. She peaked around the corner and inspected what she assumed was the living room. She figured that Freya did the best she could do with the place. Her furniture was pretty nice. But the walls seemed mouldy and the fitted carpet looked like it had been there for half a century. "How unfortunate."

Nik followed her and took a step into the living room as well. "I'm sure there are lots of free apartments in New Orleans that just look as sh-"

Rebekah gave him push into his ribs before he finished his sentence. "And you can't stay with any of your… friends?" he said instead.

Freya's eyes fell on the ground and she stopped filing.

"What is this time you want from me?" she asked after a pause.

Even though she felt some pity for her sister in these circumstances, Rebekah reminded herself of her no need to be civil-attitude.

"Tell us about the spell that happened in the woods," she demanded.

Freya sighed and stared into the distance. Eventually she said: "Doesn't matter what happened. It didn't work anyway."

"Something did happen," Nik replied.

"No, it didn't," Freya said.

"Yes, it did," he said again. "We saw the green light!"

"And I'm telling you nothing happened!" Freya turned angrily to him. "Believe me when I say that I wanted something to happen, but it didn't!"

"You need to tell us what you tried to do," Elijah interrupted them.

Some of Freya's anger vanished. With some hesitation she replied: "I suppose it doesn't matter anymore in any case. We tried to resurrect a powerful witch."

"What for?" Elijah asked.

"To kill you," Freya replied.

"Who?" Nik asked.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? It didn't work! Why does any of this still matter to you?" Freya said ill-tempered.

"Why should we believe you?" Nik asked.

"What do you think I'm doing here? I'm scrambling together what's left from my existence and am about to leave town. Because I alienated everyone I knew here by messing up that spell and through that destroying the power of the coven, and by being related to you."

Her voice sounded higher pitched and more unstable than before. She seemed angry, but there was none of her usual self-righteous attitude in her tone anymore. She turned away from them and mindlessly looked through her folders.

With a much quieter voice she continued: "I would be lying to myself if I still blamed you for all this. I should have never come here, never stayed here. I was stupid too think that I could build up a life like this. If your twisted minds truly have a shed of care or respect for me, then I ask of you just this one small thing: Please leave me alone."

Rebekah exchanged looks with her brothers. They believed her story, too. Maybe just this one time they should leave her alone. Rebekah was about to make a hint that they should leave, but then she remembered something.

"One more thing," she said.

"What did you do to those books you took from our house?"

Freya sighed. "What?"

"What books?" she added, and turned around to face them. She looked genuinely confused.

"The books you took from our house. Notebooks and small paper booklets," Rebekah said.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You took them," Nik replied. "They were missing after you had left the house."

"I didn't! I had barely time to think. Why would I steal anything from your house?" Freya snapped back.

"He's right. They were missing after you had left the house," Elijah said. "They couldn't just disappear in thin air."

Freya was about to retort, but then stopped. After a pause she said: "Davina had a large bag with her when she left the house with me. I assumed they were her things."

"What was it? What did she do with it?" Nik asked.

"I don't know," Freya replied. "I have barely seen her since then. The last time was in the night of the spell, actually."

Rebekah had always assumed that it was Davina who took the books. But she thought that she had shared them with the coven, used them to reinstate her position with them. What if she didn't? Why did she keep them to herself? Rebekah tried to put the pieces together. Before she had a chance to figure out what it could mean, she saw in Nik's face that he had come to the same realization. A split second later he was gone. She and Elijah exchanged the annoyed look they had so often in the recent days.

"Where did he go?" Freya asked.

"To get the books from Davina," Elijah said with a grumble.

"We should go after him," he added and turned to Rebekah.

"I'll be right there," Rebekah said.

It was typical for her brothers to exchange their current problem to a seemingly more urgent one. But those stupid books weren't why she was here. Marcel's words came through her head and what Nik had said a few nights before. It would be better to deal with a problem now, instead of running away. Freya was still their sister even if they'd leave the room now. If she left it'd only postpone the problem for another time. She didn't know how to convince Freya yet, but Rebekah didn't want it to fail just because she left again. She sat down on the sofa.

After Elijah had gone, Freya asked: "Will she be okay?"

"Depends. If Elijah gets there in time."

Freya moved her hands together and awkwardly stayed in the door frame. Evidently she didn't know what to do with the fact that Rebekah stayed behind.

Rebekah began: "Listen, I won't repeat what I told you once about having a sister bond. I know nothing of that will reach you. But from a pragmatic point of view, you have to accept that we are connected, even if you don't want it. Hell, I can't do anything about it either. So get over the petty attitude. But now that we know about the connection, and you know about it, and many other people do as well, our paths will cross even more often. If you've come to accept this, or if you just don't know where else to go, you know where to find me."

As she stepped out of the apartment complex, she turned left and right, not knowing where to go. Running after Elijah who was running after Nik felt like chore. A chore that she wished she could postpone. Rebekah tried to remember those lazy summer days in the past again, but she realized they had never existed. She had dreamt of them many times but that's all they were. Dreams. There had never been a time they had been carefree.

* * *

 ** _1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_**

He couldn't feel anymore. It wasn't dark or bright. It was nothing. All Niklaus perceived was some sort of anticipation. As if he was about to say something or as if he was waiting to do something, but he had no body to do it with. He couldn't remember what had happened in between or how much time had passed. All he remembered was a sudden ringing in his ears. Deep nothingness was still around him. Far, far away he believed to hear someone shouting. It was a damp sound. He couldn't understand what it was saying. It slipped in and out of his mind. Slowly it grew louder. It was a female voice shouting his name. He forced himself to open his eyes. It was terribly exhausting and painful.

"Nik!" he heard again.

Shrill and blinding light penetrated his eyes. It was too bright to adapt to his blurry surroundings. His arms that seemed to be on a different planet tried to cover his view, but they felt like they were buried deep underneath him. Niklaus heard his name again. His head was turning. The light was hurting his whole body. He closed his eyes again.

"Dammit! You can't pass out again!" he heard someone shouting over him.

His head became heavy. The soothing darkness felt so welcome.

Suddenly he felt the familiar and warm sensation that touched his lips and slowly entered his mouth. He drank and some of the pain went away.

Relived by the taste of blood he opened his eyes again. It was still bright but more bearable than before. Briony came in focus in front of him. She looked pale and had dark corners around her eyes. She was breathing heavily. Only now he realized that he was half sitting, leaning against a wall. She held his head up. Even for a human, her hands were ice cold.

"You're awake!" she said with widened eyes.

"What happened?" he whispered. It was difficult to speak and he had trouble moving the rest of his body. Even leaning against a wall seemed exhausting. A table, the wooden walls, an empty stove. He realized that they were in the house. It took him a moment to remember how he came to be in this situation. Esther. The spell. Something must have gone terribly wrong.

"Where is she?" he said, with more determination now. Trying to get up, failing. His knees did not as they were told at all.

"She's long gone!" Briony pushed him down again. "There's nothing you can do right now."

Then she spoke with a softer voice: "The important thing right now is that one of you is awake."

He didn't understand. Was he asleep?

"What do you mean?" he said, but the question answered itself as he turned his head.

He saw Rebekah, Kol, Finn, Elijah, Flora and Katherine lying next to him, all of them completely motionless, as if they were in a deep sleep.

"How?" he asked. He wasn't sure what exactly he was asking, he had so many questions.

"That's how I found all of you on the meadow and in the forest. I brought you here."

His head spun. "We have to go after her!" he said and tried to get up again.

"It useless, Nik! I told you, she's long gone!" she said, not letting him get up. "Have you any idea how long you've been out?"

"How long?"

Briony hesitated. Then she said: "18 days." After a pause she added: "And that's since I woke up."

She sat down next to him. "To be fair, I couldn't have been unconscious for a long time, else I would have starved."

Nik tried to make sense of all this information. 18 days. It had felt like he was out for a few minutes, not several weeks. Then he saw the open wound on Briony's wrist.

"You fed me your blood," he eventually said. "That was nice of you."

Briony didn't reply right away. After a while she said: "When I woke up, and found all of you… I thought you were dead. That Esther somehow had managed to kill you. First I found Kol and Finn pretty close to me in the forest. I saw that Finn was staked and saw that Kol had the same wound in his back, so I figured he'd wake up any moment. He didn't. And then I found the rest of you just as motionless on the meadow. I panicked. It took me a day to realize that if you were dead you should be decomposing. That gave me some hope. So I waited." She put her head on his shoulder.

He looked at his siblings. They didn't look dead. Not like when they had a stake in their heart. They just lay completely still with closed eyes, like they'd wake up any second.

"Wait, Finn's not staked anymore. I staked him. Why is he here with the others?" he asked.

Briony sat up again. "I figured that was you. He was in the forest as well. I unstaked him in the hope that he might not be affected by the spell. And that he'd be able to help me if he'd wake up."

"You thought he'd help you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was desperate, okay? You try being stuck on an island with seven dead bodies."

His eyes still rested on his motionless siblings. Part of him wondered how Briony managed to carry them all in here. He saw that she had put a little pillow under Kol's head. He doubted that this made any difference to him in this state, but Niklaus decided it wasn't necessary to point that out now. No matter what was wrong with them, he could tell with certainty now that the spell could not possibly have gone right. What was it that Esther wanted to do with them? He suspected she didn't just want them to pass out for three weeks.

Briony must have had the same thoughts.

"What happened, Nik?" she asked. "What did she do?"

"I don't know."

"Did you see what she did in the spell? Like motions, chants?"

"No idea. I wasn't there. I tried to reach her in time, but I was too late."

After what felt like an eternity he decided that he was well enough to get up and stumbled into a standing position. He knew what he had to do.

"Okay, let's go," he decided.

Still sitting, Briony looked at him in bewilderment.

"We have to leave right now and find her," Niklaus said again. Not knowing what else to do, he held out a hand to pull her up.

"We can't leave them here like this," Briony responded, not making any motion to get up.

"I will not let her get away with this. I'm leaving with or without you."

"Fine, you do that. I'm not going anywhere until the others wake up," Briony replied.

"Fine," he said and turned around.

"But before you run off into nowhere we might wanna find out what happened during that spell."

Nik turned back and considered her for a moment. Then he said quietly: "I felt this painful burning sensation in my chest that kept growing. I thought she was going to kill us right there. It felt that way."

"I thought so. But why didn't she? What happened? Did you stop her somehow?"

"I tried but I don't think I did. But something must have happened. I lost my footing and then got unconscious."

"Considering that you passed out for almost 3 weeks I suggest that _something_ did happen."

They went outside into the broad daylight. It was colder than Nik had remembered. They sat down in the small paved entry area of the house. Without any further comment he stretched out his hand to Briony. She pulled out a knife from her skirt and cut into his hand. His blood trickled onto the dark pavement. As she mumbled something to herself the blood expanded as it was supposed to. When it stop to expand she waved her hand. They waited. At first it seemed like a line was about to evolve. But then it didn't. Both looked at the blood drop on the ground. It didn't move.

"Again!" Briony said fiercely. She waved her hand impatiently to give her his hand again. "It's not working. Let's do it again."

He held out his hand for a second time. She grabbed it and cut it another time, this time much harsher.

She went through the same motions, and again they waited after she waved her hand over the expanded drop. They stared at the drop, as if by pure will power they'd make it move. When he looked very closely, Niklaus believed, he could see a beginning of a line, but it was almost impossible to say. Briony held her hand over it, mumbling something to herself. Nik didn't know what that meant. She had never done that before. With closed eyes, she seemed to be counting something. Then she stopped and opened her eyes. The fear in her eyes felt like a bullet pressing into his chest. Ignoring him she got up and turned away, cursing.

"What's going on?" he asked, not at all surprised by the dryness of his voice.

Briony didn't reply. He too got up, and held her arm to face her. "You have to tell me what's going on," he demanded.

Briony was shaking. "There's no way to sugarcoat this," she said with a shaky voice. "Esther's spell worked."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember what she said about the neck of the hourglass and that she wanted to tighten it?"

"Yeah?"

"She didn't. She did the opposite and loosened it."

Nik didn't need an explanation on what that meant, but Briony continued nevertheless: "She has shortened your lives. A lot."

"How short?" he asked. He swallowed. He didn't want to hear the answer.

"10 years."

* * *

 **Some thoughts I had the other day: Something I liked about the early days depiction of the TVD Originals was the mysteriousness and seductiveness around them. And I realized that this story doesn't have this at all, because I usually have one of them as the POV and they just don't see each other as mysterious. Oh well, maybe I can use it in a different fic one day :-)**

 **As always, thank you for reading and I'm always happy to hear what you think in the comments!**


	26. Responsible

**_Present Day_**

She wandered through the streets aimlessly. Dusk had already set in. Rebekah walked until the busy bars and loud corners disappeared and taller, quieter buildings were all around her. Eventually she wouldn't be able to ignore going back to the others any longer, but for now that's what she wanted to do. A too familiar ringing sounded from one of her pockets. She didn't need to check to know that it was one of her brothers. As if the sound didn't pertain to her she kept her head straight to an unknown distance. The ringing continued for another ten seconds and then stopped. Rebekah took some fast steps along the street, but part of her expected that this hadn't been their last attempt.

The phone rang again. She grumbled. So much for quiet neighbourhood. Reluctantly she pulled out her phone of her pocket. To her surprise, it wasn't one of her brothers calling. It was Marcel.

"Marcel?" she said into her phone.

"Finally," she heard him on the other end. "Listen, I need your help."

He sounded concerned, but not freaked out. She thought he would be when her brothers would find him with Davina.

"Wait, haven't Nik and Elijah caught up with you yet?"

After she had left Freya's apartment she had remembered her talk with Marcel where he had gone earlier. She had considered warning him that her brothers had been on their way then, but figured it was already too late. She didn't feel too great about the fact that she'd just let walk into that trap with her brothers.

"What? Why would they?" he asked with sudden concern.

"Didn't you go to Davina's?" she asked.

"What? Yes, I did. We're not there anymore," he replied impatiently. "That's not important right now. I need your help. You need to come to us."

Why was there so much that she 'needed' to do?

"I told you I was done meddling with everyone's business. And I'm not going to get myself into the crossfire between Davina and my brothers. Why should I even help her?"

"It has nothing to do with Davina. Trust me, you need to see this."

Rebekah stopped walking and contemplated. "What is this about then?"

There was a pause. After some silence, she heard Marcel's voice again: "I don't wanna tell you on the phone. You need to see it for yourself."

Rebekah figured that this was a lame attempt to get her to wherever he wanted her to go.

"I don't know," she replied hesitantly.

"Please."

"Where do you want me to go?"

"I'll text you the address."

Fifteen minutes later, Rebekah stood in front of the unfamiliar house at the very other end of town. On her way there she had wondered if she would recognize the place somehow, but now it didn't seem familiar. Why Marcel and Davina would be here was a mystery to her. She walked inside the brightly lit hallway with the shinily scrubbed floor until she reached the door of the ground floor apartment, as she was instructed to do. Then she knocked. A second later Marcel opened the door.

"Good, you're here!" he said without breath.

"What is going on?" she asked.

"Let's get you inside first," he said and turned around. "Common, invite her in."

Rebekah looked over his shoulder and saw Louis leaning against a drawer at the other side of the room, defiantly crossing his arms.

"I told you, I'm not going to invite in any vampire that shows up just because you lot decided to crash in my place now!" he said angrily.

"She's not any vampire. She's going to help. Invite her in!" Marcel repeated impatiently. "We don't have time for this!"

"Invite her in!" Rebekah heard Davina from a different room.

After a pause he said in an almost inaudible grumble: "Come in."

Rebekah took a step inside the apartment. It was nothing compared to Freya's apartment, she thought. Although most of the things looked newer, they had a much more lived in flair. She didn't have more time to take in any more impressions, when suddenly Davina appeared from the next room, and smashed the door shut behind her.

"Good, you're here!" she said as well.

It was much unlike any time Rebekah had seen Davina before. Usually she seemed on top of things, very poised about what she was doing. But not right now. And apart from that, she seemed genuinely happy to see Rebekah. That was a first.

"What's going on?" Rebekah asked.

Davina looked pleadingly to Marcel.

"Let's just tell her," Marcel said to her. Davina nodded nervously.

"So that resurrection spell in the forest," she said, talking slowly to make sure that Rebekah wouldn't miss anything. "It worked. The coven just doesn't know about it."

"What do you mean? Who did you resurrect?"

Again Davina looked pleadingly to Marcel. Then she said and nodded to the door: "Just look for yourself."

Rebekah figured that she wouldn't get anything useful out of these too, and took it into her own hands. She moved over to the door that Davina came out of, opened it and stepped inside.

The second she was inside the room she dropped dead still. Her legs, the only two pillars that inexplicably kept her standing straight, even though her whole body felt like it forgot how to function, her eyes only resting on that one point in the room. She couldn't be real.

"Rebekah," said a warm familiar voice she hadn't heard in years.

She couldn't reply with the huge knot that built up in her throat.

"You…here," Rebekah stammered. Then she turned back to Davina. "You resurrected _her_?"

She felt the water building up to her eyes. Her head turned back to Briony. She was still there.

There was a noise in Rebekah's head that must have been Davina's answer, but she barely heard her. Briony still looked the same as she remembered her. She gaped at her curiously, sitting somewhat defiantly on a chair. Someone had given her time adequate clothing. Seeing those clothes on that person somehow didn't go together.

"It's nice to see you, Rebekah," she said with a soft voice.

Only now Rebekah realized why Briony still sat on that chair. She was tied to it.

"Why is she tied to that chair?" she asked into the room, her eyes still fixed on Briony.

"Safety precautions. She… smashed a window in Davina's apartment," Marcel said.

"That's not exactly the truth, is it, Marcel?" Briony replied.

"She tried to jump out of it," Davina weighed in.

"What?" Rebekah asked confused. She was still struggling to accept the fact that Briony was in the room at all, and now there was too much information thrown at her.

"She tried to kill herself," Davina added.

Rebekah looked back and forth between them, trying to make sense of it.

"Listen," Briony added, "let's not get sentimental about this. I really don't see the point of it. I'm not supposed to be here. I don't want to be here. And sooner or later someone will be trying to kill me, and let's be sensible here, it will be your paranoid halfwit of a brother again. So let's just save us all the hassle and get it over with."

"No!" Rebekah replied, trying to regain a clear strain of thought.

She tried to remember some basic instincts. No, death bad. Alive good. Even if she wasn't sure how Briony could be here at all.

"Couldn't you just compel her to stay still?" she said.

"Don't you dare compel me, Rebekah," Briony said slowly.

Rebekah hesitated.

"I didn't wanna try, either," Marcel.

The thoughts flew back and forth in Rebekah's head. She grasped one of them.

"So…why did the coven resurrect her again? How did they know about her?" she asked.

"They didn't. It was an accident. They meant to resurrect someone else," Davina said.

That even made less sense to Rebekah than not knowing anything at all.

"They resurrected the most powerful being that Nik had killed. They thought it was going to be someone else. They didn't know about Briony," Marcel weighed in.

"I guess I should feel honoured that he hasn't killed anyone more powerful in the meantime," Briony sneered.

Marcel gave her an angry side-eye, but tried to contain himself.

With a forced calm voice he said: "There were mistakes made on both sides, so let's just-"

"On both sides?!" Briony replied. "I have literally done nothing but helped you and prevented you from getting into harm!"

"You tried to kill him!" Marcel said. "And me, by the way, in the process!"

"Just because your moron of a laughable father figure tells you this, you don't have to believe it," she spat back.

"That's enough! Let's all breathe for a moment," Rebekah interrupted them.

Primarily, she needed a break for herself, but if that shut the rest of them up was good as well. Although the rest of them stopped talking, Rebekah could feel the icy tension in the room.

"I'll talk to her alone," Rebekah decided. Then she ushered Marcel and Davina towards the door. Davina seemed glad for her taking over, and Marcel still skeptically eyed Briony until he was out the door. Rebekah closed the door behind them.

After resting her hands at the doorknob for a second, she looked back at Briony again. She was out of words. There was nothing Rebekah could think of that would be appropriate to say in a situation like this. Parts of her memory flew back to the moment they had resurrected her mother. That situation had been so different. They had been expecting her. They had been happy to see her. And there had been hugs and excitement. All Rebekah felt now was confusion and vulnerability. She pulled out a small stool that stood under a desk and sat down on it. With a sigh that was louder than she expected she buried her face in her hands and closed her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Briony asked.

She looked up again. "What kind of question is this? How do you think I am?"

After a pause she added: "Are you okay?"

"No," Briony replied weakly. "I think I've never been worse than right now. I'm in a strange place where I don't want to be, with people I either don't know or hate me, because they think I tried to kill them."

"Marcel doesn't hate you. He couldn't."

Briony looked at her skeptically.

"He hasn't blabbed to Nik, and instead called me. That should count as something," Rebekah added.

"That's true," Briony said to herself.

It was ridiculous to have a conversation like this. Rebekah got up again and untied one of the knots on Briony's chair, then stopped. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you?"

"No," Briony replied impatiently. "I certainly don't wanna leave now that you are here."

Rebekah hesitated. "Why though?"

"I told you. I didn't wanna be here. I felt terrible when I woke up."

"But… was it nice being dead?"

Briony smiled weakly. "I actually don't remember."

Adding to everything else, Rebekah now had to think about that strange concept of mortality. Her head hurt.

"I heard you have a sister now," Briony said, seemingly to lure her away from other thoughts.

"Yeah," Rebekah said wearily. "Technically, we do."

"What do you mean?"

"It just doesn't feel like she's my sister. She's pretty full of herself."

Briony laughed. "Well, then she should fit right in."

Rebekah threw that last bit of rope at Briony, but had to smirk as well. Then she said: "I don't know. We just don't click. It's not what I imagined it to be at all. Also, she doesn't want anything to do with us."

"Her loss. I mean, to some extent I understand if she's not keen on having a bunch of crazy brothers. But if she doesn't want you as a sister, she's just stupid and not worth your attention."

Then she added: "…And what is this godforsaken noise that comes out of your jacket?"

Rebekah had gotten so used to the sound, she barely registered it anymore. "Modern technology."

She took out her phone. Nik had been calling her. By now they must have gone to Davina's apartment and figured out that no one was there. There was no trace that would lead them here, Rebekah concluded. None of them had known that Louis was involved in this in any way, so they couldn't know that they were here now. That was good. Nik would not take it lightly that Briony was back, and he wouldn't be the forgiving kind who would wait for any kind of explanation. She had to keep this a secret for as long as possible. She put her phone back into her pocket and sank back onto her little stool. Where could they go from here?

* * *

 ** _1800, Maligrad, Lake Prespa_**

It had felt like a long deep slumber. Elijah had thought he was dreaming but he couldn't remember any details. He could have stayed asleep forever. That was until a thought crossed his head. He never slept. He didn't have to sleep. Why was he asleep in the first place? With a jerk he opened his eyes and sprung up into a sitting position. The cold air was hurting his lungs. Instinctively he clenched his hand onto his chest, as if that would ease the pain. It didn't. He turned his head and saw Kol, Rebekah, Katherine and Flora lying beside him.

Esther. The spell. Something must have gone wrong.

All his limbs hurt and his head felt heavy. It was dark in the house, except the thin light that came through the half opened door. He heard voices outside.

Without ease he struggled himself into a standing position and made his way outside. The bright light hurt his eyes. Further down the meadow he saw Finn and Niklaus standing, while Briony sat close by in the grass. Finn and Niklaus were arguing about something. There was some calming familiarity in that. Determined but weak, he walked towards them. When they saw him, they stopped arguing and waited for him to catch up.

"You are awake. How do you feel?" Nik asked.

"Terrible," Elijah said, while rubbing his face, still adapting to the daylight.

"Tell me what happened," he added.

After a pause, Nik began to recapitulate the events, while the others weighed in occasionally. Elijah listened. The others were surprisingly considerate and tried to tell him the bad news as gentle as possible. But it didn't make any difference. When they were done, all Elijah felt was numbness.

"Good," he eventually said.

Nik looked at him confused. "Good?"

"We knew that there was a big chance that we mess it up. All I can think right now is that I'm tired. I really don't care anymore," he replied.

"You don't mean that," Nik said insecurely, forcing his voice to stay calm. "Let's wait a few hours until you feel up to speed again and let's discuss it then."

Elijah didn't think he would change his mind about that, but was physically to drawn to fight now. Instead he sat down next to Briony and stretched out his legs. Why did it feel like he had been running for days? Nik and Finn both looked more energetic than him, he thought.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked.

"For two days," Nik said. "Finn since this morning."

Elijah looked in the sky. The sun was already setting. It actually wasn't bright at all.

"It shouldn't take long anymore and the others wake up as well," Briony gazed over to her house, mostly speaking to herself.

He was going to regret the question, but he had to ask. "What were you fighting about just now?"

Finn gave Nik a contemptuous look, while Nik crossed his arms and made a strong gesture to ignore his brother.

When neither of them made an attempt to reply, Briony said, still looking absent-mindedly at the house: "Nik wants go after Esther. Not everyone agreed with that plan."

Nik shot her a nasty look.

Elijah looked at Finn, who replied: "What she means is nobody agreed with that plan."

Elijah turned back to Briony in surprise and looked at her questioningly.

"First of all, we can't go anywhere until the rest wakes up," she said. "And that might take a while. And more importantly, there is nothing to be gained by chasing after her and capture her. I think we can say with certainty now that she won't help."

"What is your plan then, Briony?" Nik turned his anger to her now. "Tell me one alternative that's better than this!"

"I've been telling you for the last two days, I don't have one. But I know a lost cause when I see one!"

Frustrated, Nik turned around and walked away.

Finn sat down as well. He didn't look happy that he was on the winning side of the argument.

"Let's wait until the others wake up. I feel like everyone should have a say in this," Elijah said.

Over the span of the next few days the rest of them woke up as well. It took longer for Katherine and Flora. Elijah figured it had to do with age and strength of a vampire. To his surprise, all of them had a similar reaction to his when they had heard the news about the spell that had gone wrong and their shortened life span. With great reluctance Nik had agreed to wait with his departure until all of them had woken up. It had become particularly hard to make him stay when only Katherine and Flora were left. But none of the others had agreed yet to come along and he seemingly tried to appease his siblings by staying for a little longer.

As soon as everyone was awake and adapted to the new circumstances, they eventually had the discussion that had been in the air since the failed spell.

"What do you even want with Esther, Nik?" Rebekah asked.

"Persuade her to help us, actually help us this time," he replied.

"You won't be able to do that," Elijah said. "There's absolutely no way that she helps us after everything that happened. I'm sure of it."

"I'll find a way," Nik said

The way he said it, made Elijah somehow uncomfortable. He wasn't sure how far his brother was willing to go to get what he wants.

"No, you won't," Kol said. "We tried everything, for over fifty bloody years. And instead we just made everything worse. Just accept it. We lost."

Elijah was expecting some angry retort from Nik, and he seemed to be at loss of words at this kind of defiance.

There was one thing that bothered Elijah. Usually his brother was quick to play the blame game if he had the chance. Blaming someone else gave him a reason to solve the problem while keeping the upper hand. But this time Nik didn't blame anyone else. Not that it mattered to Elijah, but there would have been the usual candidates that Nik could have blamed for the failure. Esther foremost, who lied to them and doublecrossed them. Or Briony, who put the idea in his head in the first place. Or Katherine. After all, they still didn't know what she had said to Esther that supposedly had changed her mind, which now seemed to have been the catalyst for making everything worse. But Nik didn't resort to any of this. This time, Elijah could tell, Nik felt responsible for it. There was this nagging feeling in Elijah. The reason why Nik felt responsible for it was because Elijah forced him to be responsible and make the decision about the spell. Things might have turned out differently if he didn't push his brother to decide.

"I don't understand why this is even a discussion," Nik eventually said, while rolling his eyes. "I tried to reason with you. But I might as well go alone. If anyone wants to join me, feel free."

Without looking back at any of them, he turned and walked out of the small house. It took everyone a moment to grasp that he wasn't coming back.

"Somebody has to go with him," Rebekah said after a pause, and looked at the others.

"Let's just leave him be for now," Finn said, unusually calm. There was no condescending tone in his voice.

"I'm going after him," Rebekah stood up and turned to Elijah and Kol.

Kol shook his head and didn't make any attempts to get up.

"And you?" Rebekah now looked at Elijah.

He hesitated. "I don't know, Rebekah." He looked back to the others. None of them would be coming along either, he could tell. Especially not Katherine. He turned to Rebekah again. What would he regret more? Staying here and not help Rebekah keeping their brother to somehow even make the situation worse, or leave and might not come back for a long time?

With a mixture of determination and regret he said: "I'll be back soon."

* * *

 _ **Thanks again for reading and happy holidays! Let me know what you think in the comments! I'm trying to finish another chapter before the new year, so stay tuned :-)**_


	27. 50 Messages

**_Present Day_**

The heavy suitcase made a loud screeching noise over the asphalt, as Freya pulled it along the road, together with the rest of what she owned. Of course, one of the wheels of the suitcase had fallen off. It had been the cherry on top of a generally shitty week. Her plan had been to get as far away as possible. Denmark maybe. Not that she had the money for a journey like that. But this wouldn't stop her this time. She had never used her powers for her personal gain, but she decided she'd be able to forgive herself if that meant she could leave everything behind. That was before the dark figures had appeared across the street from her apartment. A few nights ago they had begun to show up occasionally. At first they had only been a fleeting shadow. Then, the longer Freya had watched, it had become evident that they were there for her. They were watching her. She couldn't recognize who it was. Her mind had gone back to the threats in the bar, before Joan had told her to leave. Maybe the coven had changed its mind and wanted her back as bait? Were they waiting for her to come out? She had closed her curtains shut ever since, and occasionally peaked out. No matter what at time she looked, there had always someone been outside. One of them, Freya had thought, looked a bit like one of the guys from the coven, but it had been to dark to tell. The only thing she was sure of that it hadn't been one of her siblings. Subtlety was never their strong suit when it came to her. This fact had let her to a decision that made her question her sanity. She didn't want to get captured again. Definitely not by the coven who'd use her as bait. Freya couldn't think of a scenario with them where she wouldn't end up dead. And running away was useless if somebody was already following her. No, instead she was on her way to the only people who could protect her from the coven.

With great struggle, she pulled her luggage up the steps of the mansion until she reached the door. In order to not overthink it, she immediately knocked. Her heart began to beat faster. A second later the door opened.

"Freya," Elijah said in surprise.

Further down the hall, she could see Niklaus looking in from an archway. He too came closer to the door.

"Hello," she blurted out. As always, she was mortified by her lack of rhetorical skills when it came to her siblings.

They eyed her curiously. Neither of them seemed to have been expecting her. Her mind frantically searched a solution on how to ask to stay without sounding desperate. Maybe she should have taken a moment to figure out what she exactly she wanted to say. Although the situation strongly implied it, she didn't want to beg for a roof over her head.

"Is Rebekah home?" Freya asked instead.

Rebekah, she assumed, was most likely to understand her situation. After their last talk she might even ask her to stay. That'd be ideal for her pride.

"Not right now," Elijah said.

"Oh," Freya said. That would have been too easy.

"What do you want from her?" Niklaus asked.

Apologize to her? And hope this would persuade her enough to let Freya stay in their house?

"I wanted to ask her something," Freya said.

"Something you can't tell us, I take it?" Niklaus asked.

Freya wasn't sure if she was supposed to reply to that. Before she could answer, Elijah said: "You can wait for her inside, if you want."

The thought of walking away again gave her a cold shudder. "Yes, thank you," she replied.

Elijah stepped out of the way, and motioned her to come in. Pulling her belongings with her she stepped inside. Now that she was closer to them, they even looked more indifferent than she expected them to. What did she expect? Maybe some disdain or rage. But they made the impression as if Freya coming by and asking to come inside was the most normal thing in the world.

She thought back to when she was in the bar, collecting pieces of smashed glass from the floor. A mess that they apparently had caused.

"Didn't the police make you any trouble about the bar?" Freya asked.

"You're asking if the police made us any trouble?" Elijah repeated slowly.

"Forget it," Freya replied and passed by him.

After a few steps she slowed down, the courage for barging in vanishing. Unsure where to go next she stopped. Niklaus awaited her next curiously from the side.

"You can wait in the living room if you like," Elijah said and nodded to their archway on their left.

Still holding on to her belongings, Freya made her way towards the living room. The screeching noise of the suitcase reminded her of the missing wheel. Now she regretted bringing the heavy suitcase inside. The better of her was worried that it left any scratching marks on the floor, but another part of her told her that she shouldn't care. Instead she left the suitcase at the threshold and stepped into the living room. She hadn't been in this room during her capture. Slightly insecure she walked inside, and hesitantly sat down onto the sofa.

The room made very orderly impression. Freya wondered if they actually ever were in here. Then she noticed an old cardboard box in one of the corners. It was open, and she could make out some booklets and notebooks looking out. Did that belong to the things that Davina allegedly had stolen? She tried to read what it said on the covers, but she sat too far away.

"Stop it," Elijah said.

Freya winced and immediately twirled around to face him. But he wasn't looking at her, but at Niklaus.

"She won't pick up the phone," he added.

"She has to eventually," Niklaus said with his phone in his hand, and dropped onto the sofa next to Freya.

They both seemed unmoved by her presence. After all, she had admitted that she had tried to kill them the last time they had spoken. But neither of them seemed to be thinking about that right now. She would have liked to ask them about it, but then decided it was better not to bring it up.

"Do you know when Rebekah will be back?" Freya asked.

"Not exactly," Niklaus replied.

"Where did she go?" Freya asked, not sure if she was allowed to ask those things.

"Don't know," he replied. "She hasn't been back in a while."

He took out his phone again and held it to his ear.

"Don't," Elijah said.

Niklaus looked at him annoyed but didn't make any attempt to stop the call.

"Has she said anything to you after we had left?" Elijah asked her and stepped closer to the sofa.

"What do you mean? About where she went?" Freya asked.

Elijah nodded.

"Wait," Freya said, putting it together, "you mean you haven't seen her since then? That was three days ago!"

"So you're saying you don't know where she went either," Niklaus said.

Slightly irritated with the lack of replies she was getting, Freya said: "You told me I can wait for her here!"

"So?" Elijah asked.

"Well," Freya said, "it doesn't look like she's coming back any time soon, does it?"

Was this some weird form of trap? She quickly evaluated if she should get up right away and storm out.

"That's not true. We lose her all the time," Niklaus replied. "And she always comes back. It can only be a matter of hours now."

"Really," Freya said skeptically.

"Or months," he added. After a pause he added: "There was this one time where she disappeared for a decade. But that was only because we didn't properly look for her. And we didn't have phones back then."

"Are you always… hovering over her like this?" she asked, trying very hard not to sound too judgemental.

"We're not hovering over her," Niklaus replied annoyed.

"Well, one of us is," Elijah added.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Niklaus asked and threw his phone on the coffee table.

"I'm not the one who left our sister 50 voice messages in the last hour," Elijah replied. "Just saying."

"They weren't 50 voice messages. And don't pretend you're any different."

Freya folded her hands carefully and leaned back in the sofa.

Elijah rolled his eyes. Niklaus looked like he was preparing himself for an insult for his brother, but then suddenly turned to Freya.

"Do you wanna wait or not?" he asked.

Freya doubted that Rebekah would come back any time soon. But leaving now probably meant some great offense for her brother, because she'd admit that she thought that Rebekah wasn't coming back. She remembered the dark figure in front of her apartment again. The prospect of what could wait for her outside the house was terrifying. At least in here she was safe.

"I'll wait," she said.

"Splendid," Nik said, and got up and left the living room.

"There might be food in the kitchen. Help yourself," Elijah said, still slightly irritated by his brother and left as well.

After an hour of sitting around, Freya got up. Neither of her brothers had come back in the meantime. She wasn't particularly hungry, but since she knew that she was free to get food, she went across the hall into the kitchen. Everything seemed untouched and shiny and almost new. Freya wondered if they compelled someone to clean the house from time to time. She doubted they'd do it themselves.

Where had Rebekah run off to? Freya barely knew her siblings, but she couldn't but feel some sort of disappointment. Rebekah had told her to come here if Freya needed her. This had felt like a small beacon of hope for Freya. But now she realized that this might have been wishful thinking. Obviously Freya wasn't her sister's priority. Why should she? For a second she thought that there was someone who'd care enough about her to help her. That this wasn't the case was her own fault. She had treated Rebekah with such disdain.

Absent-mindedly, she gazed at her own reflection in the window. The sun had set in the meantime. Something behind her reflection was moving. She turned around. No one was there. She looked back to the window and focused on the darkness behind her mirrored image. Was something moving outside? She took a few steps back. Someone had followed her here.

* * *

 ** _1809, Baton Rouge_**

That hurt. No matter how many times Rebekah had been through it, dying always hurt. She opened her eyes and forced her weak limbs to wake up. She grumbled. It was stupid to think they had gone past the stage of staking one another.

"Good, you're awake," she heard Elijah say.

He was sitting not far from her on a chair and rested his head on his hands. Rebekah sat up straight, and realized she was sitting on a bed. They were in a small room, it could have been a room in an inn. A lot of noise came from the room underneath them. Maybe it was a tavern.

"Elijah, you're here," she said, trying to go back to the last thing she remembered. "Why are you here?"

She had been in a fight with Nik, and well, she had an educated guess what had happened after that. But Elijah. She hadn't seen him in years.

"Wait, what year is it?" she asked again. They still had been trying to figure out how to stop themselves from dying. There hadn't been much time left. If she had been dead for a long time, would that mean her brothers already solved the immortality problem without her?

"1809, you were only out for a few weeks," Elijah replied. After her seeing her excited face, he quickly added: "No, as far as I know, we're still dying."

"Oh," Rebekah replied, disappointed.

Only now, she realized that Katherine was also in the room. She waved at her weakly. Rebekah couldn't explain why he'd bring her of all people, but she had more important questions right now.

"Again, why are you here? How did you find me?"

"I didn't interfere when you wanted to stay with Niklaus and solve an unsolvable case for the last 10 years of your lives, but I won't let him put you in a coffin before the time is over," Elijah replied.

He had said something similar the last time she had seen him, about 8 years ago. After Elijah and her had gone after Nik, they had found him relatively quickly. But there had been no trace of Esther. After a year or so, Elijah had given them an ultimatum and told them, he'd leave if they kept searching Esther. Obviously, Nik was having none of it and had told him to leave. She had been surprised how quickly they had given up on each other. Rebekah had figured that Elijah had gone to look for Kol and Finn. But she hadn't had the heart to leave Nik alone, even if she had never been convinced of his plan. The tension had grown over the years, until Nik had decided that he was better off without her. That he'd stake her she hadn't expected. Mainly because it was so absurd to put her in a death-like state when they were about to die anyway. If it was stubbornness or actual affection, she couldn't tell, but she wouldn't give up now. No, she'd go back to him and see this through until the end.

"How did you even know where I was?" she asked Elijah.

"Briony," he said.

"She's here too?" Rebekah looked around in the small room again.

"No," Elijah replied. "We split up in Italy and they went straight to New Orleans."

"Italy?" Rebekah slowly put the information together. "Wait, are you telling me that the four of you were together this whole time?"

"Well, yes," Elijah replied. "Why is that surprising?"

"I kept trying to get you back here, so we can be together. And instead, you just meet on a different continent without me?!"

"I never kept you out, Rebekah. I told you that you can come to me any time, but you wanted to stay with Nik."

"Oh why! I wouldn't want to interrupt your couples' retreat in Italy!" Rebekah said angrily. "Why didn't you invite Finn and his girlfriend as well to truly make it a family gathering?!"

Elijah and Katherine exchanged a look.

"Don't tell me they were there, too," Rebekah said with repressed anger.

"Only for the last couple of years," Elijah replied. "Considering the situation we all thought it didn't make sense to hold on to old grudges."

"Unfuckingbelievable," Rebekah said with gritted teeth. "And you didn't even bother to tell me. Very nice. Instead you leave me alone with Nik for our last decade on earth."

"Nobody forced you to stay with him, Rebekah! That was your own choice."

"Some of us still care about family, you know. I'm not just leaving him alone because it might get messy."

"He put you in a coffin! This is not just 'messy'!" Elijah replied agitated.

Rebekah wanted to retort but instead bit her lip.

"You know how he is, Rebekah. He wouldn't have let it go until the last moment. He would have started fights with Finn, he would have pestered Briony with spells, he would have treated Katherine terribly, and he would have manipulated all of us to help him with an unsolvable case. We just have to accept that we can't change it. We have to let it go." After a pause he added with a softer voice: "And if he doesn't want to accept that, we have to let him go as well."

The thought of giving up felt like a pinch in Rebekah's heart.

"So, what did you do that landed you in a coffin?" he asked, in an almost conversational tone, seemingly to change the topic.

"We've been in New Orleans for the last couple of years," Rebekah begun.

"We know," Elijah replied. In response to her questioning face, he added: "Even though I wasn't here, we still kept tabs on where you guys were. I do care that much."

Rebekah wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult.

"We disagreed on some things. On how to treat captives," Rebekah continued. She considered her brother for a second. "We found Esther. Did you know that as well?"

"You did?" he asked surprised. She believed she heard some hope in his voice.

"Yes, about a year ago," she said.

"How?" he asked.

"The same way we always look for people we can't find. Get a witch to do it."

"You found a witch who'd help you?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Rebekah replied. "She's okay. Not the best calibre of witches though."

Something the witch balanced out with craziness, Rebekah thought. A feature that resonated particularly well with her brother, who had been continually losing his mind as well.

"And," Elijah hesitantly asked, "did you you make any progress?"

Even after all the talk about accepting their fate, she could tell that he too had some hope left.

She shook her head. "He thinks he is. But the way he's dealing with things right now makes it impossible to make progress."

"He treats her terribly," Rebekah continued. "Obviously, not terrible enough that she'd die."

It had been hard to watch. And she and Nik had had more than one fight about it. But even after everything Rebekah couldn't turn off the feelings she had for her mother.

"Can you blame him?" Elijah said.

"She's still our mother. Even if he won't achieve anything, she doesn't deserve torture until we're all dead."

"That's what you fought about," Elijah concluded.

Rebekah nodded and moved to the edge of the bed.

"We need to go back and get her out of there," Rebekah said.

Elijah looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Kol already went there. You don't need me as well. And I don't like her that much to start a fight with our brother."

Rebekah got off the bed. "I can't stop him alone. Just talk some sense into him."

"You have to help me, Elijah," she pleaded.

She looked back and forth between him and Katherine. Neither of them appeared to be very willing to help. She already expected that Katherine wouldn't be useful in convincing Elijah.

"I really don't want to go to him," Katherine said and took a step back.

"He has bigger problems than you right now. He won't pay you any intention," Rebekah replied to her.

Now that she thought about it, it might not even be the worst idea to bring Katherine along. Maybe she'd irritate Nik enough that he'd stop paying attention to their mother.

Then she turned back to Elijah: "Please."

"Just give it one last try."

Elijah looked at her angrily with crossed arms. He shook his head slowly.

"I can't believe I'm giving in to this. You owe me an absurdly big favour."

* * *

 **Well, this is the last one for this year. I hope you like it so far. As mentioned before, I have sort of planned the whole story through but I never expected that it becomes that long! And I'm nowhere near finished! As always, let me know what you think about this chapter or the story in general in the comments.**

 **Thanks a lot for sticking with me and my story throughout the year! Have a good start into 2017 :-)**


	28. Decisions

**_Present Day_**

"I have no idea why you two are still here."

Rebekah ignored the comment. She observed the street outside, mindlessly plucking at the loose threads at the curtain. Briony kicked the leg of the coffee table impatiently. It was a weird habit that reminded Rebekah of Kol who used to do it when he was bored. Davina was watching television. Marcel too looked at the screen in the corner, but didn't seem to pay attention. He had stopped making suggestions on where they should go after Rebekah had turned down everything he had said. Louis paced his crowded living room up and down. Rebekah tried not to watch him, because seeing impatient people made her even more anxious about the situation.

"I told you, we can't leave," Rebekah replied, "until we know where to go. We have to hide. Nobody else must know that we're here."

"And the only place you can hide in is my apartment?" Louis asked.

"Yes! Get over it!" Rebekah replied, trying to keep her voice down. They had gone through that dispute before, and Louis' discontent about their presence in his living room was the least of her problems. They still needed a place to go to, but she was afraid that the second they stepped outside her brothers would find her. No, before she made any decision, she had to be absolutely sure her plan was bullet proof. And until now nothing they came up with was good enough to risk it.

"The way it looks right now, we're just waiting here until somebody finds us," Louis started again. "And I see this doesn't bother you too much, because you're already dead. But I can still die!"

Rebekah didn't reply. Being continually criticized wasn't speeding up her decision making. Why was she so bad at making decisions now? Now, for the first time in a long time, there were all those people actually listening to her and waiting for her to say what to do. But now she couldn't think of any place other than this one where they wouldn't walk into her brothers or the coven. And that mustn't happen. They'd kill Davina instantly. And Rebekah wasn't sure how they'd react to Briony. But as she was right now, she had no means to protect herself in case Nik would do anything rash.

"I like this apartment better than Davina's room," Briony weighed in, who seemed to have seen through Rebekah's desperation. "It's much nicer. More space."

"No offense," she turned to Davina.

"None taken," Davina replied unfazed. "It is much nicer than my place. And I assume my apartment is crawling with vampires by now."

It was hard to say how much her brothers had found out by now, but it was safe to say that they were suspicious of Davina. By now they would be surely looking for her. It only made sense to keep her with them, Rebekah had decided. She couldn't tell if her brothers also suspected anything about herself. Maybe they assumed that she had left town. She had been speaking about it often enough.

"And how long until you know where you want to go? Any ideas?" Louis asked again.

Briony considered for a moment and then got up. "I'm going to look for something to eat."

She walked over to the kitchen door. They were getting nowhere like that. Before Louis could another word, Rebekah got up and followed her.

Briony stood at the kitchen counter, seemingly inspecting some of the things that lay on the kitchen drawer.

"I don't know how you do it," Briony suddenly said with a calm voice. "How you can still stick together after everything that happened."

"They're still my brothers," Rebekah replied.

Briony turned around to her. After a pause she said: "Do these words still mean anything to you?"

"Sure," Rebekah said, without thinking about it. There was no space to doubt that kind of bond. There was an emptiness around those words, true, the more often she said them. And she had said them a lot. But yes, she told herself, they meant something.

"Maybe," Briony said, shaking of the darkness and returning to pragmatism, "I should go away alone. I can take the little witch with me. She's as good as dead on her own in any case. Then you can go home to your beloved brothers. Is that not what you want?"

Rebekah pressed her nails into her palms. "Of course not!" she said, in a much shoutier voice than she anticipated. "I am here to help you!"

"Are you now?" Briony drily. "I have the impression we're just waiting to be found."

Not twisting Briony's neck right now took a lot of effort. Why was nobody seeing how much she was trying here?

"I get that you have more than enough reasons to hate Nik, but I have never done anything that deserves the same treatment! After everything, do I not even deserve the benefit of the doubt?" she replied angrily.

"I'm sorry, Rebekah, but I don't recall you or Elijah running for my help."

"That isn't fair! I wasn't there! If you think I would have let you die, you truly don't know me enough!"

"I would have never let them do that to you," Rebekah repeated, stressing every word.

Briony didn't reply, but loosened her posture and leaned at the counter.

Rebekah continued with a calmer voice: "You don't know what it's been like after you were gone. What he's been like. I know that doesn't mean much considering… everything, but he truly felt sorry for it."

Briony considered her for a moment, listening to her words. Her eyes narrowed. "I bet he felt sorry when he realized that I wasn't the only one he killed."

Rebekah felt how tears were shooting up her eyes. She bit on her teeth.

"Don't cry," Briony said lowering her view to the ground, the earlier resentment in her eyes gone, "because then I'll have to cry." She took Rebekah's hand.

The kitchen door flew open. Part of Rebekah was terribly embarrassed to be found in the kitchen crying, and part of her was glad the moment of sadness was over. Marcel too seemed embarrassed.

"I'd rather leave this place before somebody has the idea to question him. We can't stay and hide in here forever." She gave Rebekah a look to stress that she meant all of them. "If I'm stuck in here in this unknown place it will only take longer until I get my powers back. If we want to speed it up a little I need to be at a familiar place."

"We can't go to the mansion. My brothers will be waiting for us there."

"Is there any other place you've been to except New Orleans?" Marcel asked.

"Europe?" Briony said.

"Anything where we don't have to cross the Atlantic first?" Rebekah asked.

"The summer house," Marcel weighed in.

They looked at him in surprise. Another thing Rebekah had completely forgotten about.

"The place just out of the town borders close to the woods. You remember that, right? We spent a lot of time there in the 20s. Would that work?" he asked.

"Yes, it should," Briony replied. "Does anyone live there now?"

"Only raccoons. I haven't been there in years, decades even. Technically, it still belongs to us, but nobody has lived there since."

They exchanged looks. Getting there was easy enough. Rebekah fiercely hoped that nobody was waiting for them there.

* * *

 ** _1809, New Orleans_**

Rebekah was about to push open the front door to the mansion, but stopped when she touched the door handle.

"Before we go inside," she began and turned back to look at Elijah, "remember how we should go about this. Let's not start a fight right away."

Elijah didn't have a good feeling about this meeting, but it was too late to turn around now. And he was curious to see his brother again.

"Just pretend we're here to see him," she added. "Because we like him."

"Right," Elijah replied warily and took Katherine's hand. He hadn't paid attention to anything in New Orleans on their way to the house where Niklaus seemed to live now. Now that he was here he thought it looked nice enough. What he was going to say to his brother, he still didn't know.

"And don't say anything about the spell," Rebekah added.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on saying anything at all," Katherine replied.

Rebekah nodded nervously and pushed open the door. They stepped inside the entrance that led to a big staircase. Elijah had to admit that it looked surprisingly homely.

"Rebekah, you're back!" he heard a child-like voice and turned around.

A kid was running towards them. He stopped in front of them.

"Yes!" Rebekah replied happily. "Is Nik home as well?"

"Yeah, he's around somewhere," the child replied to her, not paying any attention to Elijah or Katherine. Then he began to ascend the stairs.

"That is Marcel," Rebekah said, when she saw Elijah's confused face. "Nik adopted him."

"Adopted?" Elijah said in disbelief.

"When you said our brother was losing his mind, I wasn't expecting…" he trailed off and looked how the child walked into a room upstairs.

"Oh no," Rebekah interrupted. "The adoption happened on a sane day. You'll see what I mean with insane."

Rebekah continued to head through the hallway, but Elijah stayed rooted at the spot.

"Someone is looking after the child, right?" Elijah asked concerned.

"Don't call him 'the child', Elijah. He has a name," Nik said as he appeared in the doorway.

Elijah turned to look at his brother. He looked pale, exhausted with dark rings under his eyes. Elijah didn't know that vampires could get that exhausted, but assumed that this was the result of working without a pause for the last ten years. And he was sure that Nik had been doing just that. His eyes were still sharp though.

"You don't know anything about caring for children, Niklaus," Elijah said.

The words came out before he could think about them. The second he had laid eyes on his brother any attempt to not start a fight were already out of the window.

"I do now," Nik replied. "It's not like we have spent a lot of time together in the recent years that you could be the judge of this environment."

Elijah wasn't quite ready to let it go just yet. "I doubt any kind of environment you are in is appropriate for a child!"

"Elijah!" Rebekah gave him a reproachful nudge.

Both his siblings glared at him and Elijah realized that he wasn't making this situation any better.

"What I meant to say is," he began again, "hello."

"As if that could salvage anything now," Rebekah mumbled, running her hand through her hair with resignation.

"Always a pleasure," Nik replied drily.

"And you brought… her," Nik added, his eyes resting on Katherine. "Great."

"You're not surprised to see me?" Elijah asked, trying to read Nik's somewhat indifferent face.

"Not really," Nik said, and turned away to walk into the living room, fully aware that the others would follow him. "After Kol showed up I expected you'd come back to your senses too. Eventually. And now that we pretty much solved that peeve of a spell I was sure you'd be here any moment."

"You solved it?" Elijah asked surprised.

"Yeah," Nik said in a trivial tone, looking at some papers on the table.

Elijah turned to Rebekah, confused. She shook her head vehemently.

"How?" Elijah asked.

"We do know there is a way to stop the spell that Esther has performed. And she knows it. All she has to do now is tell it to us. And that is only a matter of time."

Elijah went through the words again in his head. It was exactly the same thing Nik had been saying nine years earlier. He hadn't been any further than they had been the last time Elijah had seen him. But remembering his promise to not raise any doubts, he said nothing.

Elijah decided to postpone any kind of spell talk until he knew what he was up against. Apart from being exhausted and delusional about the spell, Niklaus seemed okay. But Elijah saw what Rebekah meant with insane. Nik apparently ignored any signals of failure and pretended that everything was fine. As if this had been another project of his. But at the same time that shell of pretending seemed so fragile, that Elijah had the impression his brother could crack any second. And he assumed that was what happened when Rebekah had been staked. After their welcoming was done, Nik turned to his sister.

"I knew you'd be back," he said to Rebekah and squeezed her hand. Then he left the room for the cellar.

When he was out of earshot, Elijah whispered to her: "How exactly was he expecting for you to come back when he was the one who put you in a coffin?"

"Let's not bring it up right now," Rebekah said. "It will only irritate him."

"What are you whispering about?" Kol said, suddenly standing in the living room.

Elijah was glad too see him. At least one other sane person was here. Rebekah apparently felt differently.

"Don't eavesdrop, Kol," Rebekah replied without looking at him. "It's rude."

"I would never do that." Kol came over to them and put her arm around Rebekah who stiffened up. "And it's nice to see you too after such a long absence."

"Your long absence is not my fautl. Don't pretend to be my friend," Rebekah said. "Only now you show up when Nik had staked me. You can't tell me you and Briony did not know exactly what was happening here before!"

"Of course I knew about it," Kol said. "But what was I supposed to do? Complain and get staked as well?"

"How's Esther?" Rebekah asked, brushing over the topic.

"Worse," Kol said gravely.

Kol informed them about their mother's state. After Niklaus and Rebekah had captured her a year before, Nik had kept her imprisoned. Ever since they had arrived in New Orleans she had been in a cell underneath the house. Elijah had heard the same thing from Rebekah on their journey to New Orleans. Although he didn't feel too attached to his mother anymore, hearing how they had treated her ever since made him sick. He doubted that any kind of torture would persuade her to help them. From what it sounded like she wouldn't survive that kind of treatment much longer. And the witch that was helping Niklaus sounded just right for the job. The way Kol described it she seemed to enjoy this violent power she had over Esther. Rebekah was right about one thing though. Ever since Kol had arrived he had done nothing to change these circumstance. But Elijah understood that this was easier said than done. After Kol had finished this tale of torture Elijah didn't feel like doing any kind of conversation anymore, and they stood there in silence.

Disheartened by Kol and Elijah's disinterest in helping, Rebekah showed Elijah and Katherine the upstairs rooms. Elijah and Katherine followed her around quietly. Elijah still felt sick. When Rebekah had left them alone, his thoughts hung upon what was beneath them in the cellar and the level of crazy his brother had reached. He wished he had stayed away when he had the chance, but now it was too late.

"How long do we have to stay here exactly?" Katherine asked, still pondering on the door through which Rebekah just had left.

"Don't worry, he's going to leave you alone. He's too caught up with that immortality spell to think about you," Elijah replied.

"Yeah, he's not the one I'm worried about right now."

Elijah was worried about that too. The witch seemed to be on his brother's side on all matters, and that wasn't exactly a good character trait.

"I think Rebekah is right about her. She's not as powerful as she thinks she is. You'll be fine."

As long as Niklaus didn't rekindle his hatred for Katherine and suddenly focused his attention on her, Elijah thought to himself. But Elijah didn't want to tell that to Katherine. The second he'd raise any doubt about her safety, she'd be gone, with or without him. And since he couldn't leave just now, he didn't want her to leave either. He knew he was terribly selfish.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think!**


	29. One More Year Left

**_Present Day_**

"What are you looking at?" Nik asked.

"I don't-" Freya begun, twirling around. "Nothing, I guess."

"Someone's outside. I sense them too."

Freya studied his face. "Aren't you worried?"

"People are always spying on us. There's nothing for them here tonight, unless they wish their heads to be ripped off."

Today he wasn't in a mood for attack. If anyone wanted to fight him today they'd have to get inside the house.

"What I don't understand," Nik begun, changing the topic, "how could you even waste that much power for a spell that shouldn't have worked in the first place?"

"What?" Freya asked bemused.

She was still looking into the garden, where the silhouette had been before.

"How could you even waste that much power for a spell that shouldn't have worked in the first place?" Nik repeated, less patiently than before.

"Are you trying to remind me of all the mistakes I made?" Freya asked with annoyance.

"No, that's not what I meant," he said. "The spell couldn't have worked because I didn't kill Esther. The way you described the spell nothing should have happened. Meaning, no big waste of power. Power is only used when the spell actually runs its course."

Why did he have to explain this to a witch? He began to think they overestimated Freya's skills.

"I suppose that has to do with my weak phrasing of the spell," Freya murmured. "We never specifically asked for Esther. Just for the most powerful witch that had died by your hands. And even if there was someone powerful enough to resurrect that you killed," she glanced at him, "and I take it there were plenty, we would have known by now."

Nik stared at her in disbelief.

Elijah appeared in the door, but Nik barely registered him. His mind raced through the information that Freya had just given him.

"There's a group of people approaching the house," Elijah said.

"Yes, we know," Nik waved him down, trying to keep his thoughts straight.

Elijah ignored the blasé tone. "They're walking to the entrance door as we speak."

Freya looked to Elijah nervously. He gestured them to follow him into the hallway.

"But-" Nik begun.

"Now!" Elijah interrupted him.

Reluctantly, Nik followed him. This better be important.

A second later the front door flew open and broke into several pieces. The brothers watched the hole were the door used to be and waited in their spot until the dust settled again.

"In the case of werewolves, I would hide behind him and not me, Freya" Elijah said and gestured to his brother, keeping his eyes locked on the door.

With quick leap, Freya swept over and hid behind Nik instead. Nik wasn't too worried about werewolves, but didn't wanted Elijah to be bitten again so soon. A few moments later two werewolves stepped in, followed by Celine Blanchard. Nik had the suspicion that this was getting personal.

"You need to pay for what you did to my brother!" Celine growled.

"It looks like your brother paid for what he did to mine. We're even," Niklaus said, and took a step towards her.

"He executed my brother in front of the whole town. You risked exposure for witches, vampires and werewolves alike!"

"That again." Nik grumbled to himself, and then turned to Celine again: "If exposure is that much of a worry to you, I wouldn't live in a big town like New Orleans."

He didn't had the nerves to speak about trivial hostilities right now. His mind swept back to what Freya had just told him before. Celine opened her mouth to say something, but Nik interrupted her before she could speak.

"Hold on, I'm sure you have more insults ready, but there's something more important I need to talk about first."

He turned to Freya behind him.

"You said you were just trying to resurrect the most powerful witch that died at my hands?"

Freya looked at him in confusion.

"Niklaus, what are you doing?" Elijah asked annoyed.

Why was everyone so slow to see the real issue in the room?

"Freya said in the spell they performed, they didn't try to resurrect Esther in particular, but the most powerful witch that died in New Orleans," Nik repeated to him. His brother didn't seem to catch on. "By my hands."

"Excuse me?" Celine interrupted them. "We are not done here?!"

Nik ignored her. Neither Celine nor any of the two werewolves looked like they were about to attack any time soon. Instead he focused on Freya again.

"Did you or did you not say that?"

Elijah was about to interrupt him again, but then he contemplated on Niklaus' words.

"It doesn't matter. It didn't work," Freya said, intimidated by everyone in the room.

"But you said, it looked like it worked. You think it didn't," Nik said.

"Yes?" Freya replied unsure. "Isn't that the same?"

"No!" Nik replied, somewhat surprised by her slow understanding.

His mind raced. He turned to Elijah who looked like he went through the same train of thought.

"It did work," Elijah said with an unsteady voice.

"Okay, this has gone on for long enough. I don't care what other problems your family has. I'm here to get retribution and I won't leave until I have it!" Celine shouted.

"You need to leave this town," Celine said, when nobody replied to her demands.

"Or what? We have established that you can't kill us, haven't we?" Elijah said.

Nik had actually been thinking about leaving town, now that Rebekah was gone. But this was a matter of principle. They could never give in to a demand like this. His earlier sympathies for the werewolves had long been gone. He doubted that he could ever reason with this pack. Celine wanted to give another retort but then stopped. She suddenly became very calm, almost zen-like. If anything, this was what made Nik stop for a second and put his attention on her. He knew that kind of calmness. Only someone who was absolutely sure they had the upper hand behaved like that.

"I might not be able to hurt you, but I brought someone who can," Celine said, gestured behind her.

The brothers braced themselves for whatever came to the hole where their front door used to be.

A second later a woman stepped through the door. She didn't seem very dangerous. Nik thought it was a bit of a let down.

"No," he heard Freya gasp behind him.

He heard her heart beat getting faster and faster.

"Oh no," she said again with a mouse-ish voice, and clambered to his arm.

"Who is she?" he asked confused, not turning his eyes away from the woman.

The tense and shivering person behind him told him that something was very wrong. Freya was scared. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to as well.

"Are you telling me that you superior creatures don't know something about yourself that I do?" Celine sniggered.

"Freya?" Nik asked again, this time a bit more pressing.

"It's…" Freya stammered.

"Your manners seem to have waned since you're mixing with this pack, Freya," the woman spoke, as she took a few steps closer. Then she addressed the brothers. "Let me introduce myself then. I'm Dahlia."

Nik and Elijah exchanged looks.

"Our aunt?" Elijah asked her bewildered, and quickly glanced at Freya to confirm it.

"That is correct," Dahlia replied with a smile that could freeze an ocean.

"What do you want?" Elijah asked briskly.

He seemed too confused to know what exactly they were supposed to do.

"You have something that belongs to me," she said.

Her eyes wandered from one brother to the other and then stopped on Freya. Nik felt her grip on his arm growing tighter.

"No!" Freya shrieked. "I'm not going with you!"

"I'm not giving you a choice," Dahlia replied, with a much harder tone now.

"If you want her so much, why don't you come try and get her?" Nik said.

Dahlia smiled. "I was expecting you said something like that."

"That won't be a problem."

In a blink of an eye, the room turned so bright that it was impossible to see anything. Nik knew he had to act fast. The ground began to tremble. Freya was still clutched to his arm. Instinctively he reached for Elijah. He seemed to have had the same idea and they stumbled into each other. Freya began to scream. Nik could tell someone was trying to pull her away from him. He pulled back and bit whoever was dragging at her. From another side Elijah pushed him backwards to the kitchen. He knew what his brother's plan was. They had no chance for a fight in here with a complete loss of vision. They needed to get out. He punched someone else out of the way, he was pretty sure it was a werewolf, and they managed to get into the kitchen. Nik heard a door crash, which sounded like the kitchen door that led outside. Instinctively he leapt towards it, still dragging Freya with him. Not a second later, he heard another large crash behind them, and the ceiling in the kitchen fell down. They stumbled out of the door, while the kitchen seemed to implode behind them. Before they could react to any of this, the outside wall too began to break and smashed over their heads. All he could do in this short time was turn around and protect himself, and as a result to that Freya, from the large pieces of rocks flying their way. When the wreckaging stopped, he tried to get up on his feet again. As fast as possible, he crawled out of the debris, pulling Freya with him. He was relieved to find Elijah immediately beside him.

"Run," Elijah said.

Nik understood. Dahlia was walking towards them. Her hand raised. He didn't want to know what she was trying to do next. He lifted up Freya, who was still too shaken from the crash to register what was happening, and sprinted into the opposite direction.

After several minutes where they were sure nobody was following them anymore, they stopped.

"Thanks for telling us about your aunt's powers beforehand," Nik said drily, after he had set Freya on the ground

Elijah seemed exhausted, but to Nik's relief he couldn't see any werewolf bites or scratches on him.

" _Our_ aunt," Freya corrected him, warily looking back into the direction they just came from. "And you never asked about her."

Then she turned back to him, her face softened with a mixture of confusion and gratitude. "Still, it was nice of you to not leave me behind. I know you didn't need to do it. Thank you."

"Sure," Nik replied, not sure what else to say.

He didn't know why he decided to drag her along even though it would have been much easier to just leave her there. Part of him acted out of principle. You could certainly not give your enemy what they want. But another part also felt pity for her. She had been completely terrified of their aunt. It would have been very cruel to leave her behind.

"We should go back," Elijah said, scanning the street. "We need to know what they're up to."

"Wait," Nik held him back. "We need to find Rebekah first."

"What?" Elijah surprised. "How is that-?"

He paused, then he had put together what Nik was after. "You want to go after Briony. Even if she's alive, which is very unlikely, we don't know where she is or has been in the last few weeks. What we know right now is that somebody destroyed half of our house and is running that way!"

"So what? They were only there to scare us away. There's a whole lot of other problems we have now!"

"Aren't you always talking about the bigger picture? Thinking about consequences and that kinda stuff?" Nik added, when Elijah didn't reply.

"Yes," Elijah replied relentingly. "I'm surprised you remember that."

"This is definitely the bigger picture!"

Freya looked back and forth between the brothers. Elijah hesitated and considered the street that led to the house again.

"Fine," he consented.

"Thank you," Nik said impatiently.

He realized that now that they had Freya stuck with them they were going to be much slower than he hoped they would. He assumed she didn't want to be carried around from now on.

"Now then, let's get going," he said. They couldn't lose any more time. "Chop chop."

"Don't you chop chop me, Niklaus," Elijah replied.

As they walked off, a bad feeling crept up Nik's spine. He knew they had to find Rebekah to find out the truth. He was not looking forward to it. He had the feeling that it wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

 ** _1809, New Orleans_**

In the following weeks Elijah and Kol had not spent as much time trying to change Nik's mind as Rebekah would have hoped. Rebekah had noticed as well that the decision to bring Katherine with them was a powder keg. As a result Elijah had made sure to get her and himself out of Nik's or Rosa's way whenever possible. Rebekah already put together that once again it was her task to bring everyone together and save everyone from disaster. But something held her back to confront Niklaus. This time she wanted to make sure he got her point, that only acted out of his best interest, before he had the chance to stake her. The best way to do that, she thought, was talking to him in small doses. That'd also keep her from snapping at him.

The only comfort she had during those weeks were her sporadical visits to her mother when no one else was home. Esther had been getting worse. They had been seriously underfeeding her, but that must have been her brother's plan all along. Rebekah hadn't dared to bring her any food while anyone else was in the house, but she brought down something to eat whenever she had the chance. Within the cell her memory of her mother of the earlier days, back when they were still human, became much more vivid. She had almost forgotten the things that had happened nine years before. The longer she had talked to her mother the more she understood her. She didn't want to die, but she began to understand the guilt that her mother was feeling. And more importantly, she realized how similar they were.

One later afternoon, she was about to descend the stairs to the cellar again, as she heard steps behind her. She whirled around. Niklaus closed the front door behind him.

"What are you up to?" he asked.

"Not much," Rebekah blurted out, being caught off guard.

"Hm", Nik replied.

"I thought you already left," Rebekah said hastily.

"I was about to," he replied.

But then seemed to let it go, and passed by her with a smirk.

"You're in a good mood," Rebekah said, irritated.

"Even happens to me occasionally," he replied.

His relaxed and jolly attitude somehow irritated her. How could you even be in a good mood when someone below your feet was starving?

"There's not much to be jolly about. That's all," Rebekah said drily.

"Sure there is. We're almost good to go with the spell. As soon as Esther talks-"

"You have not achieved anything!" Rebekah interrupted him loudly. "Stop pretending that you're close to a solution!"

The words came out without her having any agency over them. But she didn't care. Sometimes his face made her so angry.

He looked at her in surprise. His eyes narrowed. Rebekah took a deep breath and didn't avert her eyes. She was ready for confrontation. It didn't come.

After a long pause his face loosened again.

"I get that you're upset about the situation. We all are. But you have to trust me on this," he said, taking her hands into his.

He did sound persuasive. That was one of her brother's strongest qualities. And she would have fallen for it if not every strain of reason inside her brain had balked all hopes. She eyed him skeptically, but didn't reply.

"Okay, I'll let you in on a secret," Nik eventually said.

He looked behind her as if to check that no one else was there. Then he considered her expression.

"Can I trust you?" Nik asked.

"Of course," Rebekah said, more curious than anything else.

"I wasn't lying when I said we pretty much have the spell. For the spell we need a doppelganger. At first, I was pretty annoyed with Elijah that he brought Katherine along. But now it's quite ideal that she's here actually."

"When you say you need her, you mean…"

"Yeah, she has to die."

He took her hand. "You can't tell Elijah. Not until we got everything together. He won't understand."

Rebekah realized that this was one of those moments again where she had to be very careful on what to say without ending up in a coffin. She had nothing against Katherine, except her being an annoyance that kept pushing between her brothers. But she could tell that Elijah was attached to her. And he wouldn't forgive Nik too quickly when he found out about this. She hesitated. Speaking up now would only destroy this new gained trust she just established.

"And you're sure that this will work?" she asked instead.

Somehow she needed to delay this plan of his. She couldn't tell Elijah just yet, or else Niklaus would know she was the one who had told their brother.

"Yes, it will. Rosa has everything figured out."

Of course it was the witch would have given him that idea. And because the torture of someone he didn't like was involved, Niklaus must have been igenously delighted by the idea.

"And you think she's really up for that?" Rebekah asked. When she saw Nik frowning, she quickly added: "Not that I doubt her… extraordinary abilities. It's just - do you remember what happened to those other witches that helped Briony with the resurrection spell? They died. Even though they tried really hard. It would make sense to get some backup."

His face loosened again.

"What do you suggest?" he asked.

"Maybe at this point it would make sense to ask Briony to help out?" she said.

"She's never going to help with this! All she does is parasiting of our wealth and entertaining Kol."

"Still," Rebekah replied. "Consider how important this is you might wanna ask her."

He eyed her with skepticism. She feared that she had already crossed a line.

"You know it's the most sensible thing to do," she added.

After a pause he said: "You're right. I'll ask."

"See," he added with a lighter mood, "there's something to look forward to. Everything will be fine."

Rebekah heavily doubted it.

"I knew I can trust you," he said, and left for the door.

Rebekah stayed in the hallway for a while. The second she'd tell Elijah about Niklaus' plan, she was sure, he'd be gone. And she would be back at the start again without Elijah. No, she couldn't tell Elijah. Not yet. Instead she'd try to postpone Niklaus' plan as much as possible. If Briony heard about she could deal with it. She certainly wouldn't have difficulty to tell her brother off. Something told Rebekah it was better to wait until she had more people on her side.

When she was sure that neither Niklaus nor anyone else was coming back into the house, Rebekah descended the stairs to the cellar. With the habit of having it done many times before she unlocked the heavy cellar door. She pushed the door open and stepped into the dimly lit room. Esther was sitting on a small bench in one corner, her back resting on the humid stone wall. Seeing her like that gave Rebekah a pinch in her heart every time. By now Esther looked like she was only skin and bones. Yet when she saw Rebekah she smiled.

"You're back," she said with an airy voice.

"How are you?" Rebekah asked, but then quickly replied to herself: "Stupid question. Not good. Nobody would be fine in a cell like this."

"I'm fine," Esther replied with an airy voice. "Don't worry about me."

Rebekah told her mother what she had been doing in the last couple of days. She couldn't imagine that this was in any way interesting for Esther, but then again, it might have been a welcome distraction of the bleakness of the cell. Esther listened tentatively to everything Rebekah said. Rebekah had to admit, it was nice to have someone listen to her. It was an interest that only a mother could have.

When she was done with her relatively mundane tales, Esther's eyes swept away looking at the wall behind Rebekah. They didn't seem lost though, but trying to focus on a thought. There was something on Esther's mind, Rebekah was sure of it. She waited for her mother to speak.

"When you weren't coming back a few weeks ago, I assumed it wasn't out of your free will," Esther began.

"Which was correct," Rebekah added.

"But it made me think. I wouldn't have minded if you didn't want to come back. You don't have to come back to me for my sake. It's fine if you wanna spend it outside, anywhere else than here."

"What are you saying?" Rebekah asked.

"There's one more year left and you don't have to spend it in a cellar."

"Neither should you."

"I fear I don't have much say in this," Esther replied with a weak smile. "Besides, I don't think I'll survive another year in here."

Rebekah took a deep breath. That just wasn't alright.

"Well, I'm not leaving without you. Nik will have to give up eventually, and has to let you go."

"You must know he'll only give up when I'm dead. Luckily for everyone involved that shouldn't take that long anymore."

"Don't say that," Rebekah replied angrily.

It was hard to enough to hear any of her siblings talk about their mother's death like it was no big deal. Esther couldn't do that as well. But Rebekah saw what she meant. Esther was very weak. Ill. Even if Rebekah began to smuggle in lots of food and water, it might not be enough to bring her back to her old healthy self.

Her gut told Rebekah what to do. She got up and bit her wrist open.

"Here," Rebekah said decisively.

Esther looked at her in surprise.

"You can't die now," Rebekah replied. "Not now. Not that everyone's here. I can convince them to help us. Then we're 5 against 1, and I'm sure I can get you out. And we can leave together."

Esther still watched her in astonishment.

"You know what, I'm not even giving you a choice here. Drink and get better. Then, in a few weeks, when everyone's back I'll get you out of here."

* * *

 _ **Oh well, it took me a bit longer to finish this one than expected! It's not that I wasn't writing - somehow I just felt more inspired to write other chapters first (on a positive note, I've already finished Chapter 32! All kinds of stuff is going to happen, I'm telling you!).The updates should come more regular from now on, so stay put!**_

 ** _Let me know what you think in the comments!_**


	30. Sibling Fights

**_After some longer absence I'm finally back on track! Thanks if you stuck around until now (Also, 30 chapters! Yay!). To those who criticized that the last few chapters were a bit slow, I'm totally hearing you. I think that was the main reason why it took me so long to write them. I don't know, when I planned all of this, I apparently struggled a bit with the middle part. Good news is that this is over now - lots of stuff happening from now on! This chapter is a bit longer than the ones before because I combined some things, but afterwards it will go on as usual. I hope you like it! Let me know what you think!_**

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

"What is it, Rebekah?" Briony asked from the back seat.

Rebekah gazed out of the car window. A very distinct cold feeling in her lungs pressed against her chest.

"Nothing," she said, absent-mindedly.

She didn't want to talk about it. There was this feeling inside her she couldn't explain. A feeling she had only felt two times before in her life. And those times turned out to be the worst days she had ever experienced. She had meant to ask Briony the first time she had felt it, but back then she hadn't. Perhaps she had been too scared of the answer. And the second time, Briony hadn't been around anymore for her to ask. It didn't matter. By now she knew it was a bad omen.

Maybe she was imagining it this time? It must be the anxiety, she told herself.

"We're here," she said, pointing out the obvious. But it was good enough to change the topic.

Without looking at Marcel, Briony or Davina, she opened the car door and headed towards the structure of the house. To her surprise, it was still standing. Even most windows were still intact. But it was evident that no human had set foot in this area for a long time. The path up to the entrance was tangled with roots and plants and the facade looked grey and dirty. On the corner of the house, wild animals had dug holes into the ground, creating their nests beneath the surface. Without saying another word, Rebekah walked on. She could hear the others following her.

"Anything mention-worthy happened in the last 90 years?" Briony asked, as they reached the front door.

Rebekah pushed the door open with a loud creak. After a first look, she realized that dirt and roots had made their way inside into the hallway as well.

"Not much. We went back to England for a while," Rebekah replied, after the three others had stepped inside as well.

She and Elijah had developed this theory that their lives where divided into times where nothing happened for a long time, and short times where the events accumulated and usually spiralled out of control. The last 90 years were quiet most of the time. But these times right now, she had the feeling, where the latter.

"Spells?" Briony asked again.

It seemed an odd time to have the catching up-conversation, Rebekah thought. The way Briony asked sounded a bit too casual.

"Why do you wanna know?"

Briony paused. "I'm a witch. That's the kinda stuff I'm into."

"Nik has turned into hybrid at one point," Rebekah said.

She had gotten so used to it, that almost had forgotten that this had happened after Briony's time. But she didn't seem to be interested in that.

"Did it make him any less of a twat?" she asked.

"It didn't change him that much," Rebekah replied, ignoring the insult.

"No, still the same twat-like behaviour I'd say," Marcel added.

Briony looked at him in surprise, but then gave a laugh. Rebekah gave them a reproachful look.

"What?" he asked. "She's right. Have you noticed that he's been ignoring me ever since you came back to New Orleans?"

Rebekah wanted to retort, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Now that he mentioned it, she noticed it too. All Nik was doing since they came back was obsessing over the coven and Freya.

"Were you asking for something specific?" she turned back to Briony.

Briony shook her head. "No. You seem very carefree, that's all. Like everything's going well for you these days."

Rebekah laughed sadly. "We have never been carefree, Briony."

With that Rebekah began to inspect the other rooms on the ground floor, while the others followed her. It was still odd to have this small group of people following her orders. But she decided that she liked it. Especially the part where she could end a conversation because she didn't feel like talking. That usually never worked with her noisy brothers.

With some cleaning up, they decided, it was good enough for a stay. As they began to clean out some of the damaged furniture, Rebekah remembered something.

"Nik was very worried about you after Elijah got captured by the werewolves," she said to Marcel. "We thought you might have been bitten. But then it turned out you had only passed out because of those crystals in the house."

"Do I hear some criticism in the fact that I wasn't actually dying?" Marcel said.

"They never take you serious unless you're in mortal danger," Briony winked at him.

"No, of course not," Rebekah replied to him. "And stop bonding over playing victims. We all know you two don't care about what my brothers think about you."

"I'm gonna check out my old bedroom," Briony said, looking up the stairs.

Before she could take a further step, a shiver ran over Rebekah's back. Like a reflex she grabbed Briony's hand. She sensed it. Someone was coming closer. And she knew who it was. There was no time to lose. She had to act immediately.

"Niklaus," she said.

She immediately had the others' attention. She and Marcel exchanged a look. It was too late for her. And if Nik was on his way here, he must know about Briony as well. The other could still get away if they stayed behind.

She nodded towards Davina, and Marcel understood. He grabbed her and a split second later they were both gone.

She and Briony stayed behind, still on the foot of the stairs.

"I was hoping we had more time," Briony said with a dark voice.

Rebekah's mind raced. Where to go? Upstairs? Outside? Hide somewhere else? She knew that any place they could think of was completely useless if he already caught their scent. When she heard the hurrying foot steps getting closer, she reconciled with the fact that there was nowhere to go. Still holding on to Briony's hand, she braced herself for a fight.

There was no fight. At least no fight that Rebekah could put up with. The moment she registered Niklaus in the door she felt a hard blow against her chest that threw across the room, her hand ripped away from Briony's. The crash against the stone floor hurt even more. He was clearly not holding back because she was his sister. First pulling herself up by the elbows, she clambered up, refocusing on the situation that was unfolding.

"You!" she heard Nik shout.

He was standing where she had stood just seconds before, now throwing Briony against the wall, his elbow pressing against her collar bone. Briony put up some resistance, but her strength right now was no match to his. They hadn't been in the house for very long. Rebekah was sure she couldn't have regenerated any power in that short time.

"Let go of her!" she demanded, and launched at them.

She pulled at her brother's arm, but he didn't give way, keeping his glare on Briony.

"You're suffocating her!" she shouted again.

"Yes. Why even waste time?" Briony spat. "Just kill me again and we're done with it!"

"She's not suffocating!" Nik said to Rebekah.

"Niklaus, let go of her!" Rebekah shouted again. "What are you even trying to do?"

There was some wavering in his eyes, and Rebekah pulled at his arm again, while scratching her nails deep into his skin. This time he eased a little but not enough to let go of Briony. Force couldn't bring her much further. But Rebekah was sure she had seen some uncertainty in him. Maybe he wasn't sure what he was doing after all. Distraction, it was.

"How did you even find us?" she asked, slightly losing her grip on his arm.

"What do you mean?" Nik asked, annoyed, keeping his eyes set on Briony.

"How did you know that we were here in the summer house?"

Put off by the question, he quickly glanced over to her.

"When I knew that she was here, I figured you were going to a place where she could regenerate her power. You couldn't go to the mansion. So you obviously came here. That wasn't hard to figure out, Rebekah," he replied with a matter of factness.

Rebekah shrugged. It only took them three days.

"Interesting tale," Briony said with a sneer. "I'm surprised you weren't here before us then."

Rebekah had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. This would be much easier if Briony would shut her mouth. Nik's face hardened again and he pushed harder onto her chest. But this time, Rebekah could tell, he was about to break her bones.

"Stop hurting her!" she shouted, now climbing and kicking her brother in an attempt to weaken him.

"Let go, Rebekah. This has nothing to do with you," he said determined.

"Yes, it does!"

It was no use. He was stronger than her. She let go of him, and turned around, looking for anything that might help her. In back of the hallway she saw a long iron heating pipe that went from the ground to the ceiling. Within seconds she ripped it out of the wall, rushed back and smashed it over her brother's head. The fact that he wasn't expecting it was her advantage, and he let go off Briony as he crashed to the ground. Before he could react she hit him with the pipe again.

"Nice to see that one of you has grown a spine in the mean time," Briony said, watching them as she caught her breath.

"Briony, for God's sake" Rebekah said impatiently, "get out of here!"

Finally, Briony got her cue and ran up the stairs. Her dizzy brother tried to get up to get after her, but Rebekah struck him a third time. Realising that he was not getting rid of her, Nik turned to Rebekah. What followed was very clumsy fight where her brother tried to take away the heating pipe. The fight probably would have been shorter, Rebekah thought, if she hadn't hit him on the head three times before.

"Why are you on her side?!" he asked, when finally ripped the pipe out of her hands and smashed it away.

He sounded angry and desperate.

"She's our friend, Nik! Stop treating her like she's the enemy!" she pleaded.

She was breathing heavily. Panic crept over her. Was there actually anything she could do to stop him?

"She is not our friend. She tried to kill me!"

Rebekah didn't know what to believe. A fact was that her brother had killed Briony before. Another fact was that she liked both of them and didn't want neither to die.

"Get out of my way," he said.

"No!" she shouted.

"I'm sorry, Rebekah. But you need to keep out of this."

Within a sudden moment, Rebekah felt an ice cold pain in her chest. He moved so quickly, but she was still surprised that she missed it. Her limbs went numb, as she registered the piece of metal reaching out of her breast and her eyes turned black.

* * *

 ** _1809, New Orleans_**

Kol had been dreading the moment when Niklaus decided that Briony would be useful for whatever shenanigans he had planned next. It was the main reason he had postponed their journey to New Orleans for as long as possible. Why end a perfectly nice time in Italy when all he got here was the millions of quarrels he was already sensing?

And when that moment came his brother suddenly was around them almost 24 hours a day. Even though Kol was not subtle about his presence being annoying, Niklaus didn't stop.

"Careful, you almost make me miss Finn," Kol said.

"I have no idea why you spent all that time with Finn of all people," he said, ignoring the hint. There was some amusement in his voice.

"Trust me, I was surprised myself. But we got along great. Maybe because it was just us and Elijah. No offence, but you can be a bummer sometimes. And even Flora. Now that she has death to look forward to again, she is quite fun actually."

Even though he and Briony had heard that there was a possible solution for the immortality problem and they agreed to listen to whatever Niklaus had to say. They had been looking for a solution for such a long time, and he couldn't see how a new witch could solve that problem. Until now he had succesfully avoided the new witch, Rosa. Even for his taste, she was missing one too many screws. On any other day he would have enjoyed to have such an entertaining person around, but in these circumstance she wasn't a very good addition. However, when she told him and Briony her plan, it was clear that despite the insanity she was very enthusiastic about the prospect of giving them immortality and killing their mother. It wasn't that Kol didn't want it to work, but even he saw how absurd and unfeasible it sounded. There was no point in arguing about it. He knew his brother well enough that he was way past the moment where he would change his mind. But he could tell from Briony's raised eyebrow that she wasn't going to be quiet. Her urge to be right forbade it. As soon as Rosa was finished, Briony took a deep breath, and Kol already knew what was coming. He considered to take a step away from her, as if that would safe him from the quarrel, but knew that it was no use.

"You can't use Katherine as a doppelganger," Briony exclaimed. "She's dead! She's a bloody vampire! You can't use dead people for spells like this! I don't know if you remember that tiny detail, but that's why Katherine turned herself into a vampire in the first place!"

She stared at them in absolute disbelief.

"You used her for Esther's resurrection!" Rosa replied, after she caught herself again.

"That is not the same at all," Briony replied, trying to sound calm but failing terribly. "First of all, Esther wasn't actually dead. Compared to an actual resurrection, getting Esther to wake up was easy. Second, the immortality spell is a whole different league. Even if you had a proper doppelganger, _which you don't have_ , you can't just top off another thousand years on the old spell. This is not how magic works!"

"The way I see it, you don't want to help, Briony," Nik interrupted her, "because your ego doesn't allow it that for once somebody else has solved a problem you couldn't."

"My ego?" Briony laughed. "I'm pretty sure it's not my ego that stands in the way of getting anything done. I can't believe you made me cross the Atlantic for this!"

Kol was missing Finn and Italy. How come they managed to be together for almost ten years and not have a fight, while here they started shouting at each other within a week.

"How about we all think about what has been said on our own and we talk later when we're all rested and hopefully in a better mood?" Kol suggested, trying to usher Briony out of the room.

"No need, if she doesn't want to help, fine. We can do it without her!" Nik said reproachfully.

"Sure, go along with it," Briony said, resisting to move. "Have you told Katherine or Elijah of your great plan?"

"Of course not," Nik replied annoyed. "And I won't."

"Whatever, do what you have to do," Briony waved him down. "And if you burn down the bridge to one of the last people who actually care about you, fine. I don't care."

She stamped towards the door, but Nik held her back by her wrist.

"Of course, you care when all of us die," Nik said determined. "You can't fool me."

Kol knew what he was playing at.

Briony glared at him. Without a retort she freed herself from his grip and left the room.

Awkwardly, Kol stayed behind. He hated it when they used him as an argument.

"Elijah will never forgive you if you go through with this," he added.

Nik paused for a second. Then he said in a more composed manner. "He'll thank me later."

A scream pierced through the house. It was Rebekah's. They exchanged a look. It came from underneath them.

Kol followed his brother downstairs to what seemed to be a dungeon-like cellar. Ever since he had arrived he had never come down here. But he already knew who was in the cellar.

Rebekah stood in the open cellar door. Nik pushed her aside to look past her. After he had moved inside, Kol saw her. A long blanket was tied to a rope and hung off the roof ceiling, knotted around the neck of the lifeless Esther, softly swinging back and forth. They all fell silent.

That was that with the unfeasible plan, Kol thought.

"Is she-?" Briony asked, who had just caught up with them.

"Dead." Kol concluded.

He couldn't hear a heart beat. Frustrated Nik loosened the knot on the blanket and the body fell on the ground.

"No, she isn't," Rebekah said, who was still rooted in the door frame. "She's turning into a vampire."

What followed were hours of accusations and _hows_ and _whys_. When Nik raised the point that it was awfully convenient that this had happened just after Briony had announced she wouldn't help, it became too stupid for Kol. He decided to let his siblings fight this one out on their own, and when nobody was paying attention to them he and Briony went upstairs.

"What are they even arguing about?" Briony asked, lying on their bed, as they heard another loud bump against a wall downstairs. "It's not like they can un-do anything now."

"If you think this was the end of the immortality conversation then you don't know my brothers," Kol replied.

Then he added: "Also somebody might have told Elijah - by accident - that Nik's plan was to kill Katherine, and he wasn't so happy about it."

Briony sat up. "Why would you do that?!"

"It slipped out! It wasn't on purpose. And besides, it shouldn't matter now anymore. Nik can't perform a spell with a dead witch and a dead doppelganger."

A second later the door opened.

Rebekah swept in. "You're hiding as well. I have to join you."

She fell on the bed next to them.

"Nice work on turning our mother into a vampire, Rebekah," Kol said drily.

"How did you know it was me?" Rebekah asked surprised.

"That wasn't hard to figure out. You're the only besides Nik who actually went to cellar. Although I'm not quite sure how you thought your plan would work out."

Rebekah grumbled. "I obviously wasn't planning to do that, Kol."

"But I understand why she did it," Rebekah she added with a more composed voice. "She just didn't want to die."

"Now she only dies a few months later. Good for her," Kol said sarcastically.

Briony shrugged. "She didn't want to help. Now she has lost her powers, and cannot be forced to help. I would have done the same."

"You would have turned yourself in a vampire so you didn't have to help?" Kol asked with disbelieving smile.

"No," Briony said with a matter of obviousness. "I would have died. I don't know why she made that detour with becoming a vampire. Why would she turn herself into a vampire when she could get the same result, meaning not helping you, with dying as a human?"

"Because she didn't want to die," Rebekah said again.

Kol wasn't sure that this was the truth. His mother, as far as he was able to judge her character, didn't strike him to be as someone who was afraid of death. Especially since she was always preaching about the course of nature and how being a vampire was unnatural. It seemed odd that she of all people opted to become a vampire instead of dying a natural death.

He was tired of discussing that topic. His siblings were already doing a good enough job on that without him. In the living room underneath them they heard more shouting. Rebekah wrinkled her nose.

"Since when don't you like a good family dispute, Rebekah?" Kol asked.

"Maybe I would if Rosa wasn't down there as well."

"Not a fan?" he asked with a laugh.

Rebekah only rolled her eyes. "What do you think of her?" she asked.

"That she has no idea what she's doing. She's completely bonkers. " Briony replied.

"You mean very entertaining," Kol added.

"Shouldn't we do something about it?" Rebekah asked impatiently.

"What do you want to?" Kol asked. "If we try to get rid off her, Nik will only get more annoyed."

"Well, I think she's terribly obnoxious," Rebekah replied ignoring him.

"That doesn't surprise me," Briony said quietly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rebekah asked.

Kol doubted that Rebekah actually wanted to hear the truth. But now she was getting an answer if she liked it or not.

Briony sat up. "He's obviously interested in her. And you've never liked any of the girls Nik was interested in, and he never liked any of your boyfriends. It's this weird co-dependence you two are having that keeps you from being happy for each other."

Rebekah's face turned dark red. "That is not true at all," Rebekah replied, very carefully choosing her words.

"Briony, I told you. We don't talk about their issues in front of them," Kol said, trying not to laugh.

He had trouble hiding his enjoyment of that scene.

Rebekah must have noticed too, when a second later the small glass mirror from the drawer flew at his head.

A loud bang echoed through the house. It came from below them.

"I might not be the only one being attacked by mirrors today," Kol said.

They could hear both Elijah and Nik shouting. Whatever they were arguing about it sounded like it was only getting worse. Rebekah seemed to have forgotten her previous annoyance with Kol and listened, concerned. She and Kol exchanged a look. If they didn't do anything now, their brothers might tear down the whole house in their fight.

They went down to the living room.

"You cannot possibly blame her for this!" they heard Elijah say just as they entered the room.

"Of course, I can! Where do you think Esther got the idea from?" Nik replied angrily.

They looked like they were about attack each other. The large closet that usually stood next to the entrance lay shattered on the ground. Kol assumed that this had made the loud noise before. He couldn't tell who had done it, but neither of their brothers seemed to be bothered by it anymore.

"What is going on?" Kol asked.

"Niklaus believes it's Katherine's fault that our mother turned herself into a vampire," Elijah said with a sneer, clearly proclaiming what he thought of that accusation.

"She told Esther to do it," Nik said accusingly.

"I didn't!" Katherine said. With crossed arms, she stood in a corner, as far away as possible from the others.

"This is ridiculous. Someone has fed our mother their blood, but it couldn't have been Katherine, because she was never alone with her!"

"You're delusional, Elijah, if you actually think that this is not the kind of thing she'd do to get back to us! She's just waiting for us to die!"

Aggressively Nik took a step closer to Elijah. Kol moved stepped next to him, trying to hold him back, perfectly aware that he couldn't do much in case Nik actually attacked.

"Are you even hearing yourself?" Elijah replied. "She cannot possibly want us dead, Nik, because then she'd be dead too!"

"Stop it!" Rebekah shouted in between them.

"It wasn't Katherine who gave her blood. It was me, okay?" she added, trying to sound calm.

The room fell completely silent. Kol was expecting another thunderstorm of insults coming from all directions, but it didn't come. Instead, both Elijah and Nik stared at their sister. From the looks of it Kol wondered if Nik was practising to set her on fire with his stare, but then Nik restrained himself and looked away.

"It doesn't make any difference," Nik said sternly, and turned back to Elijah. "Rebekah makes idiotic decisions all the time, but Katherine obviously told Esther to kill herself. Because she wanted us to fail."

"Don't call me an idiot," Rebekah said affronted.

Elijah shook his head in disbelief. "After everything? After you admitted that you were about to kill her for some obscure plan that your dim-witted girlfriend had, you still dare to blame Katherine for your failure?!"

Anger flashed in Niklaus' eyes, and Kol preventively put his hand on his brother's arm again. His eyes scanned the room, checking for anything that his brother could use as a weapon next. Elijah didn't seem to care and braced himself for an another attack. Only now Kol noticed it. The corner where Katherine had stood was empty.

Hesitantly, he said: "Katherine is gone."


	31. The Misunderstanding

**_Present Day_**

Foot steps were echoing from the floor above Niklaus. Avoiding the sight of his lifeless staked sister on the ground, he rushed up the stairs. On the landing he saw a woman running around the corner not far from him. As he swept forward, he stretched out his hand. She was almost in his reach. He could feel the breeze of her movement. But it was too late. He crashed into an invisible wall that had formed itself over the threshold to the bedroom. Briony had stumbled over it and now lay on the carpet. Immediately she whirled around to look at him, alarmed that the barrier might not hold him back. When she saw him stuck in the hallway she took a deep breath.

Anger and fear raged in him. The barrier seemed to mock him. Niklaus' mind and heart seemed to take turns in creating a panic, his focus waning. He kept himself from shivering. What was he trying to do, again? He came here with the intention of killing her, he reminded himself, to get it over with. To get rid off her before once again they'd fall into her trap of fake trust. Before they'd tell her all the secrets that could destroy them, before she'd deceive them. That's what he has been telling himself ever since 1925. Killing her had been good decision. He had to do it. There had never been another way, he kept reciting in his head, or else all of them, not only Kol, had died. Elijah and Rebekah had never understood that. That's why it was even more important that he reminded himself of that fact. But the second he had laid eyes on her, something in him broke. It was like the last 90 years hadn't happened. This was not the demonized person in his mind that had tried to kill him. This was the girl who had lived with them for over 200 years.

He couldn't tell how long they had stared at each other in complete silence. Briony was petrified, not making any quick movements or losing eye contact for even a second.

"Where's Rebekah?" Briony eventually said almost in a whisper, as if she didn't want to disrupt the silence.

Nik considered her. It was an odd question. But then he remembered who he was talking to. Like him, she tended to jump over several steps of conversation, because she had already worked out the answers herself. She obviously didn't need to ask what he wanted from her. His vile welcome spoke for itself. There was no point in accusing him of anything. Facts were facts, and at least in regard to the fact that he had killed her puts him in the blame, and both of them knew it.

"Downstairs," he said.

The thought of Rebekah lying in the hallway made him uneasy. He never felt particularly good about staking any of his siblings, especially not Rebekah. But he couldn't have her around right now. He needed to think, which was hard enough as it was. Briony seemed to have figured out what had happened to Rebekah. She didn't reply. And he didn't know what else to say. They were stuck at a threshold.

More time passed and the tension decreased slowly. Briony still watched him like a hawk. Her face was less afraid now, but still unfriendly. The way she looked at him now reminded him of that one time in France, where he had stolen a danish of her breakfast plate that she was saving for later. She had thrown a fork at him and told him that it had been even worse for the fact that he didn't need to eat to survive and she did. The rest of the day she had been glaring at him with the same judgemental stare. Why did this of all things come to his mind now? He was being stupid. He had to focus.

"Where's Elijah?" she asked.

"I don't know," Nik replied.

"Rebekah said he would be with you."

"I…" Nik tried to gather his thoughts.

It was hard to put his memories together. Why did it feel like everything before the last hour had happened a century ago?

"I left him in town. I thought I was going to be faster alone, without him and…" He trailed off again.

None of this mattered anymore. What was he going to do? He needed a plan.

"Always so efficient," she said with a sneer.

His eyes narrowed again. Good. The meaner she was the easier was it to hate her. He stared at the threshold on the ground. His feet ached to take a step further, but they couldn't. He had no chance of getting inside. The only way to get to her, he realized, was through words.

"I get that you're angry at me," he said, trying to sound calm. "I tried to kill you. You tried to kill me. I won."

"If you think this is why I'm angry at you…" Briony took a deep breath and turned away rashly.

The anger took over her and she didn't seem to be able to finish the sentence. It was working.

He realised too late that he wasn't ready for anything of what was coming.

Much louder she said with a hasty, angry voice: "I mean, it's absolutely terrifying to be murdered by someone, who you thought had at least some respect for you. Is it too much to ask that after 200 years of living like relatives that I deserve the basic decency of not being murdered by you?! But that does not even come close to the worst."

Nik wanted retort, but the words stuck in his throat. He didn't want to hear any of this.

Briony continued, now close to tears: "How could I ever forgive you for Kol?"

Not aware of what he was doing, he took a step back, shocked.

"How could you?" she repeated, much louder than before.

"Kol is not my fault. How dare you blaming me for this?" he said disgusted. "If anything, it is your fault!"

Briony looked at him aghast.

"It is not my fault," she said, pronouncing every syllable.

"Maybe if you had told anyone what you and Kol had done-" he began, she interrupted him.

"Then I wouldn't have needed to fear that his brother could slit my throat?!" She glared at him, and without catching breath she continued: "I hope you have suffered in the last 90 years for everything you've done. Everyone in this universe knows you deserve it!"

Nik felt like he had been slapped.

Briony looked like she was about to throw something at him, but he didn't give her the chance. It was like his legs had decided for flight and he wasn't able to control them. He just wanted to get away from her. He rushed down the stairs again and walked out of the entrance door onto the veranda. He stopped, the panic slowly rising in him. It didn't matter where he went. The confusion, the fear, it was all in his head and it wouldn't go away this time. There was nothing he could do. It felt like the time had turned backwards and Kol had just died days before. And Briony. He hated everything about her, everything she had said. But he didn't hate her. He just wanted all of this to go away.

His head hurt. From afar he heard a car. Now it was only a matter of time until Elijah and Freya arrived. He had come here alone to finish this business before anyone else had the chance. But he didn't know what to do. The only thing he knew was that he couldn't kill her a second time. He sank down on the stairs and buried his face in his hands.

* * *

 ** _1809, New Orleans_ **

After Katherine's disappearance, they had all thought, the fight between Niklaus and Elijah would only grow worse. It didn't. The siblings had spent the next few hours looking for her. Briony was surprised that they even bothered. Katherine must have put half a continent between them by now. Briony had pretended to look for her as well. Until now nobody suspected her. None of the others had noticed how she had pulled Katherine out of the room and told her to leave for her own safety. Katherine hadn't needed much convincing.

Yet the aftermath was much to Briony's dislike. In a mixture of anger for his brother and desperation, Elijah was set on going after her. Briony had already expected something like that, but she didn't like who had volunteered to go with him.

"He's not going to find her," Briony said, pleading.

"I think he already knows that," Kol replied warily, looking at his things on the bed, considering if he should take anything with him. "But you can't blame him for wanting to leave this place."

She did understand. Part of her regretted that she hadn't told Elijah right after when Katherine had left. But it would have made things worse.

"And we can't just have him wander around by himself, all sad. If I go with him, I should be able to persuade him to come back pretty soon," he added.

"Can I really not come along?" she pleaded.

"No," Kol replied quickly. "You'd interrupt the brother bonding experience. Besides, you're too slow to keep up."

Frustrated, Briony watched him disappear, already dreading being in this house alone.

The next few days without Kol had been dull. Only now she realized how dependent she had become of him and how used she got to having him around all the time. She wasn't in the mood to be in the company of any of the remaining people. Rebekah would have been fine, but ever since Esther had turned, Rebekah was practically conjoined to her hip. Briony could tell that they had bonded ever since she had last seen them.

One afternoon, Briony walked around the house aimlessly, watching the dust dancing around in the sunlight. It was incredibly boring. She still would have liked to talk to Rebekah, but knowing that she was with Esther in the cellar, she avoided her. Nik was completely out of the question. For a second she considered to look for Rosa. She had rather people that were full of themselves than brooding people. Outside, the boy that Nik had adopted was playing. She watched him for a moment. He seemed healthy enough. But she hoped that somebody looked after him properly.

Voices echoed through the house, and Briony followed them. They came from the cellar. Out of ideas to do anything else, Briony stepped down the stairs. Rebekah and Esther were sitting on one of the benches seemed to be in a discussion.

"Briony!" Rebekah said when she saw her in the hallway. "Come and join us!"

Briony followed the order and took some steps inside.

"I've been hearing you walking around in the house for hours. Are you that dependent on my brother that you can't think of anything to do on your own?" Rebekah asked with a raised eyebrow.

Briony lifted her shoulders. "Is the family always this quiet when Kol is not around?"

"Unfortunately, no," Esther replied.

"There is something I wanted to tell you," Rebekah begun, as if she had been expecting Briony for a while. "Can I trust you?"

"Sure," Briony said quietly, glancing up to the ceiling.

Until now Briony never quite knew how far vampires could actually hear.

"We decided that we're going to leave," Rebekah said, when Briony had settled down.

She seemed very happy with her decision.

"You mean you two?" Briony looked at her and then at Esther.

Rebekah nodded. "It doesn't make sense of staying here any longer. I'd rather spend my last year in freedom with my mother, than in here in this house."

Then she too has given up, Briony thought. It was weird to hear Rebekah talk like that. It seemed like even she had enough of Nik's antics after the last ten years.

"It's sad that I won't see Elijah and Kol again before we leave. But maybe that makes it easier," Rebekah added.

"Really," Briony replied, in loss of anything else to say.

Rebekah seemed very calm about her decision, and Briony didn't know what to do with it. It seemed useless to talk her out of it. Should she try for Elijah's and Kol's sake?

"I told her what you did for Katherine," Rebekah added.

"What I did?" Briony repeated, surprised.

"You told her to leave," Rebekah replied with a matter of obviousness.

Baffled, Briony gaped at her, and Rebekah added: "Of course, I noticed when you pulled her out of the room. My brothers are usually oblivious to anything but themselves, but I do pay attention sometimes. Don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone. And I think you were right doing it. Elijah shouldn't have brought her here. And like that we at least prevented a murder."

Briony bit her lip. She didn't feel comfortable with Rebekah blurting out these things for everyone close to hear. It was particularly worrisome that only two floors above them, she knew, Niklaus was still around. And then there was Esther, right next to her, who now knew all this. It was clear that Rebekah trusted her mother, but Briony still had her doubts.

"That was a nice thing to do," Esther said, as she caught her eyes.

She almost looked amiable.

"I suppose," Briony replied.

Rather than talking about things that concerned her own secrets, she moved the conversation back to what was said before: "Wait, did you say you are leaving soon?"

Rebekah nodded. "Yes. Tonight. There's no need to postpone it any longer. Also, brooding Nik won't notice until we're long gone."

Deep in her thoughts, Briony almost missed when Rebekah suddenly got up. She had said something about getting a thing from upstairs, but Briony missed what it was. She tried to get up too, but Esther looked at her in a way that Briony knew that she wanted her to stay. Reluctantly, Briony watched Rebekah going out of the cell. Having alone time with Esther was not her plan for the day. Defiantly, she leaned back on the wall. Esther watched her, as if she was waiting for Briony to speak. Then, Esther got up, sat down next to her, and took Briony's hand into hers.

"I know, it's not easy for you to let them go. They have been your companions for a long time. But none of this is natural," Esther looked at her intently. "One day, you'll understand. You'll also understand that keeping yourself young for forever won't make you happy."

Briony's lip twitched. She did not like being talked down like this.

"Is that why you don't like me?" she asked.

Now that Esther was as good as gone, she decided, it didn't matter what she'd think of her anyway. Esther observed her curiously.

Then she concurred: "One of the reasons why we might have not seen eye to eye in the past, yes. That and the fact that you keep making terrible promises to my children."

"I always said that immortality doesn't exist. I never lied to them," Briony replied affronted.

"Yet, you keep helping them with their unreachable goals. When you resurrected me, for example. And now, aren't you still here because Niklaus is expecting your help? You're giving him hope when that's the last thing he actually needs."

Briony opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came to her mind. Why did she come to New Orleans? Because Kol wanted to? She never believed that Rosa had any chance in solving that spell, but still, a small part of Briony wanted her to succeed. But that wasn't fair. She couldn't be blamed for being present now, could she?

"At least I didn't act all selfish and made everything worse by shortening their lives against their will," she replied with gritted teeth. "And it is rather cruel, you know, to shorten someone's life that much instead of just killing them."

"I tried to kill them," Esther replied. "But I suppose I wasn't strong enough to go through with it."

"And that spell I made back then wasn't selfish, Briony," she added coldly. "I truly expected that the spell would have killed me in the process as well. And even now, I think the spell has affected me the same way as it did them. Even if they hadn't turned me, I would have died with them in a year."

Briony had trouble feeling sorry for her. Especially not now when she spoke with such a lack of emotion about the death of her children.

"Wait," Briony suddenly said.

Something jumped into her mind. "Why would you die with them? That's not how the thing with the hourglass works."

Before Esther could react, Briony asked in disbelief: "Did you bind them to your own life somehow?"

Esther's eyes narrowed. "Considering that I turned into a vampire a few days ago, that's unlikely. We'd be all dead by now."

Briony had no argument against that. Her mind worked through this new piece of information. Briony thought hard about all the spells she had ever performed or heard about. Not once would the witch be affected the same way as her victim, unless it was somehow connected to her own body. Could it be? And if it was true, what would that mean?

Esther eyed her suspiciously. Briony was glad that a second later Rebekah appeared in the door again. She made a weak excuse to get up, and disappeared into the hallway and ran upstairs. Her heart raced. The spell Esther supposedly had performed 9 years ago was meant to be irreversible. But body spells weren't. If all she needed to do was freeing them from Esther to not die next year that would be easy. But Esther was already dead, Briony reminded herself.

Everything about this situation was messed up. A simple body bind curse was between a witch and human, Briony knew how that would have worked. She had no idea how such a spell behaved with a resurrected witch turned vampire and her undead vampire children. The thought alone was absurd. Maybe the spell still held up if all of them were undead.

She walked up and down the hallway, getting more nervous every second. Should she dare it and do a simple counter-spell against a possible body bind curse? It was clear that Esther would die in the process, but that wasn't one of her worries. Not if it meant she could save everyone else from dying in a year. She had one shot at this. And it might not even work. She stopped in her track and knew. She had to do it. And she had to do it right now, before Esther might leave forever.

There was no chance in challenging Esther alone. Now that she was a vampire, she'd be too fast and strong for Briony. That Rebekah would help her with that was unlikely. And there was no time to wait for Kol to come home. There was only one option.

She knew what she had to do.

She found Nik how she expected him to find, sulking in a book that she assumed he only stared at without actually reading it. She could tell he registered her presence but he didn't make any effort to acknowledge her.

"You must be bored to astronomical levels if you come in here," he mumbled, when she stopped in front of him.

She doubted that Rebekah or Esther were in earshot, but she couldn't be sure. And it was absolutely vital that nobody else could hear her right now. How could she tell him her plan without raising any suspicion?

"Can we go outside and talk about something?" Briony said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Go away," Nik said.

This wasn't working.

Then she realized. He didn't have to understand. He only had to listen to her.

"Listen to me," Briony said again, taking a few steps closer and urging him to look at her. Her body was electric. That made him look up.

"Don't ask questions. Do exactly as I say for the next ten minutes and I can get us out of this mess." She tried to sound quiet and normal, but her voice was trembling.

He studied her face with the same skepticism as always. He looked like he wanted to say something, but then suddenly he seemed to understand and got up. He knew she was serious. That was the kind of quick-minded decision Briony was hoping for.

She put her finger onto her mouth in order for him to be quiet, and he understood. She marched down the stairs and towards the cellar. She was hoping that they'd catch Esther alone, because she had no idea how they could keep Rebekah out of it long enough for Briony to perform the spell. They were lucky. Rebekah wasn't there anymore.

Esther only managed to look up, before Briony said: "Grab her."

A second later she was tight in Nik's grip. Briony shut the door behind them, trying to lock it from the inside as well as possible. When she turned around, Niklaus looked at her expectantly.

"We need her heart," Briony said.

"Alright," Nik said, already turning to Esther again.

"Wait," Briony said, surprised by his absolute obedience. "She needs to be alive for the thing that happens afterwards."

"Okay," Nik said, as if that was the same to him.

What followed was a dirty process of cuts, pain and blood. Any other day Briony would have prepared and practised the spell, especially a spell that could be as life-changing as this. But there was no time for that. It was now or never, and Briony knew she just had to wing it. This meant several attempts of getting vocations right, which led to a much longer and bloodier process than she had expected. It must have been very painful for Esther. But it was absolutely vital for her to stay alive until the end. Despite having done many spells in her life, Briony had never been good with that much blood spilling. It took all her might to stay focused and not look away. Niklaus didn't seem to be bothered by it and stayed patient, as if every failed attempt was part of the spell. This determination of his helped her to continue. This was important. It must have taken more than half an hour. Then, she knew that she was reaching towards the end and her adrenaline rose to a new high, she pulled out the heart and finished the last invocation. It felt like the heart was imploding in her hands, and cool razor sharp flow of energy whirred through her body. A second later another wave of energy trusted through the room that swept Niklaus next to her away. She already knew that this was a good sign.

Her body wavered and she let go of the crumpled heart. Still kneeling, she supported herself with one hand on the ground. She coughed. The energy that went through her felt like she had been on a spinning wheel. All that blood. She felt sick. She closed her eyes and counted to three. Some of the sickness feeling went away. After a moment of gathering herself, she turned to Niklaus, who was getting on his feet. He must have felt much better than her.

"It worked?" he said. It sounded like a mixture of a question and statement.

"You tell me," Briony said, trying not to look at the massacre in front of her. "I did everything right. You should have felt it. In a good way, I mean."

"It did," Nik said quietly, looking at his hand.

Briony pulled herself up on her feet as well. Slowly the events dawned on her. It actually worked. She had reversed what Esther had done nine years ago. They were fine for another 200 years.

The same train of thought must have gone through Niklaus' head.

"And that's it?" he asked her hopefully. "It actually worked?"

Briony nodded with a smile. She almost did not dare to be relieved. That was it.

She found herself in a heartfelt hug. Nik had wrapped his arms around her in a heavy embrace. Briony was too relieved and couldn't do anything but return it. She had to admit it was nice. A second later she heard Rebekah's foot steps coming down the stairs.

"What is going on?" she heard her say from the hallway.

Nik turned around to face her. "Rebekah, it worked!"

But Rebekah didn't seem to have heard him. Her face turned white as she let out a high-pitched shriek. She took a few steps back again, her eyes piercing what was left of her mother's body.

"What on earth have you done?!" she shouted, first looking at Niklaus, then blood-splattered Briony, then again at the body.

She sacked down on the ground next to it.

"Have you heard what I just said?" Nik said again with a light voice. "It worked. We're not going to die, Rebekah!"

Briony couldn't tell if Rebekah had grasped any of this, as she merely started to cry and sob heavily. Carefully, Briony moved closer to her, and sat down next to her. She tried to reach out for her, but Rebekah pushed her away with all force that her sorrow could muster. Briony only registered that her head hit the wall and everything went dark.

The buzzing noises came back again, and the next thing Briony remembered how she woke up, pressed against Kol's chest. There was blood in her mouth, she could taste it. She lifted her head and her shaky surroundings came into picture. They were still in the cellar. Not much time could have passed. Rosa was hovering over the dead body now, while Rebekah still sat next to it, blubbering.

Only now Briony realized that it wasn't Kol she was resting on. It was Niklaus. She pushed him away in a weak attempt to get up. Unfazed by it, he lifted her up by her shoulders into a standing position. Her legs were weak, but she made herself staying still. Her neck hurt a lot. There were too many voices and cries around her. Or maybe it was only Rebekah, she couldn't tell.

"What happened to you?" Rosa asked, coming over to her.

Briony wasn't sure if she had been that slow to answer, but Nik replied before she could: "Rebekah threw her against a wall. She broke her neck."

That explained the pain, Briony thought.

Then he turned to Rebekah: "You can't just throw her around like that! You almost killed her!"

Rebekah didn't make any attempt to answer, and kept looking down on her mother's dead body.

"Leave her be," Briony mumbled. "I'm fine."

"Another 1000 years, what a relief," Rosa said.

"Wait, what?" Briony said.

"You are definitely the most magnificent witch that has ever lived," Nik said, now in an ecstatic mood and hugged her again.

Then he let go and walked over to Rebekah, and talked to her. Although still upset, Rebekah seemed to listen this time. Her face was now sad and hopeful at the same time. Briony still hadn't moved and watched them. In her dizzy state, she only grasped parts of their conversation. But then she heard it again. 1000 years. She grasped for air. They couldn't actually think that's what just had happened, could they?

Silently, Briony kept her head down and stared at her feet, too afraid that her face could give anything away.

"I'm going to lie down for a bit," she mumbled, without looking at anyone.

She wasn't tired at all. The vampire blood had kicked in her system. But everything was turning. She wanted to get away.

She had never said anything about a thousand years. Now that she thought about it, she realized she hadn't mentioned the 200 years either. Did Niklaus actually misunderstand her? Or did he only want to believe her? Maybe he wanted to believe her so much that he chose to misunderstand her. But not even he could be that delusional. No, Briony was sure, he didn't know that they were going to die in 200 years. And as long as he told his siblings what he thought he knew, they'd believe him.

Maybe that was a good thing? They could be like they used to be, before this whole quest for immortality. Briony missed those days. The thought of telling them once again that they were going to die made her blood freeze. She couldn't. There and then, she made a decision. Unless they'd figure it out themselves, she wasn't going to tell them the truth.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for sticking along! :-)**_


	32. Apology

**_Present Day_**

Niklaus was sitting on the stairs leading up to the entrance door. When Elijah stopped the car, Nik raised his head. He was still annoyed with his brother. Once again Nik took off alone and made it impossible for Elijah to intervene. But Elijah had bigger worries right now.

"Is she here?" he asked, as he walked over to his brother.

Nik nodded weakly. He looked battered.

Elijah glanced up to the quiet house. Was he too late?

"Where is she?" he asked.

"She entrenched herself in one of the bedrooms," Nik replied passively, staring at his feet again.

Relief. That must have kept her away from any of Nik's impulsive decisions. Without asking anything else, Elijah marched inside. A few steps further and he found his sister, staked and lifeless in the hallway. He grumbled. Of course, a day like this couldn't pass without his brother staking anyone. He'd take care of her later. Right now there was still someone alive upstairs. As he was about to take on the steps, Freya shrieked behind him. He hadn't even noticed that she followed him inside.

Her terrified face was fixed on Rebekah on the ground. He had almost forgotten that she was new to this.

"She's fine," he said impatiently.

He heard footsteps from above and rushed up.

In the landing they almost crushed into each other. Overwhelmed, all he could do was gaping at Briony.

"I heard a scream," she said concerned.

"She's fine," he repeated with a stammer, unable to say anything else.

He took a step back and looked at her.

"You're here and alive," he added when he caught himself again.

It sounded like a question.

Before she could reply, he grabbed her and enclosed her in an embrace. Briony seemed to be too surprised to respond to it.

"You're the first to do that," she said, taken aback, when he let go of her.

He nodded, studying her face, hardly taking in what she had said. There was something on his mind he had to get out.

"Just in case Niklaus messes this up any second, I wanted to tell you, that I am sorry for what has happened. And I want to apologize."

"Oh," Briony looked at him bemused. "Thanks."

At the foot of the stairs, Freya peeked up. Elijah made a motion to Briony to follow him and walked down.

Freya waited for them, her eyes fixed at Briony, who hesitantly followed Elijah. Freya tried to keep herself together, but Elijah could hear her heart drum. It was hard to say if Freya was more upset about the alive witch on the stairs or the dead vampire at her feet.

"Can we do something about this?" Freya nodded at Rebekah's body.

"Yes," Elijah murmured.

He kneeled down and was about to pull out the stake, when Nik appeared in the door. Out of reflex, Elijah stood up again and placed his hand upon Briony's arm.

"Relax, if I wanted to do something, I'd have already done it," Nik replied with an unreadable face.

Although he tried to sound composed, Elijah could tell, his brother was anything but. It must have taken a lot of restraint for him to not flip out right now. Nik bit his lip. Elijah actually didn't know how Niklaus felt about being here. He seemed afraid, angry, confused and terrified at the same time. Was he feeling regret? Within the last 90 years, he worked hard on not looking guilty about what had happened. Elijah never truly believed this farce. But now something had wavered in his brother. He made a very insecure impression about this. This wasn't a good thing. Insecure Nik made even worse decisions than impulsive Nik.

"So, what happens now?" Freya asked.

"Maybe we should go home," Elijah said, trying to sound calm. "To the mansion. And talk about it there."

The journey at least gave them something to do, he thought.

"Somebody has blasted a hole in our kitchen," Nik said shortly.

"Right," Elijah said. "Let's stay here then. For now."

He was about to pull out the stake from Rebekah's heart, when Nik jerked. He didn't seem to be ready for Rebekah. It took little imagination for Elijah to figure out what had happened before he had arrived. Rebekah, acting in everybody's best interest, must have shouted at Niklaus, trying to force him to see it the way she did. This might have worked any other day, but not when their brother was shaken like this. There was doubt in Nik's eyes. Rebekah would only make it worse, Elijah was sure of it.

"We're gonna leave everything as it is. Just until we have all calmed down, okay?" Elijah said, with a reassuring voice.

Leaving Rebekah like that for longer than necessary didn't feel right. But the situation was too precarious as it was.

Somewhat relieved but dislocated, Niklaus first looked at Rebekah, then at Elijah, then at Briony. Without another word he turned around and rushed outside.

Freya and Briony's faces expectantly looked at Elijah. Something needed to be done. Hesitantly, he followed his brother. He threw a last look over his shoulder, and saw that Briony and Freya stayed back, watching him as he went outside.

Nik was sitting at the same spot again where he had found him just before they had arrived. Quietly Elijah sat down next to him.

As if the reply didn't matter to him at all, Elijah asked him: "What is your plan here, Niklaus?"

Nik didn't reply.

That meant he had no idea what he was doing. He'd never admit to it.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Elijah asked, after a pause.

Nik looked up. He almost seemed relieved for Elijah's offer. He must truly be at the end of his wits.

"Would you consider," Elijah tried to sound as impartial as possible, "apologizing to her?"

Nik snapped. "I'm not going to apologize!"

"Just say you're sorry."

The idea of apologizing filled his brother with rage.

He stumbled over his words. "I'm not going to take blame for-"

"I'm not talking about you taking any blame!" Elijah interrupted him, now more persevering. "Just say you're sorry. You killed her, for God's sake. I don't even care if you mean it. We need to unload this situation somehow, and this can only happen if you at least make an attempt of reconciliation."

"We don't want to reconcile!" Nik replied angrily.

"Yes, we do," Elijah stressed.

Nik bit his lip. The thought of giving in seemed to repulse him.

"Please," Elijah added.

With a grumble Nik got up. Did this conversation make him so angry that he was about to run off?

"Nik, wait," Elijah tried to stop him, but he didn't know what else to say.

To Elijah's relief, Nik headed to the entrance door. Quickly, Elijah got up and followed. Nik didn't get very far. He had barely taken a step inside. The others were still where they had left them, next to the stairs, now standing a bit closer together. No one spoke. The icy atmosphere turned colder with every second.

Elijah gave Nik a nudge.

Wrestling with himself on what to do, Nik focused on the carpet.

Whatever Nik tried to say apparently took an endless amount of effort to bring over his lips. Elijah couldn't but be annoyed. Considering how little it took for his brother to do things like staking their sister, it was absurd that he couldn't say simple sentence.

"I'm sorry," Nik said.

It came out grumpy and threatening, and it was doubtable than anyone would accept it as an actual apology, but Elijah deemed it as good enough.

Briony looked at him in surprise. Elijah had the sudden urge to intervene. He had almost forgotten that these two were the pettiest, most prideful people he knew. Two people who were more likely to set everything in flames than of exchanging a simple apology.

 _Just don't mess this up now and keep your mouth shut,_ Elijah prayed to her.

She opened her mouth but then closed it again. Instead she gave an almost invisible nod. Elijah sighed soundlessly. He figured that this was as good as it could get.

As if the moment of reconciliation was decided to be over, Nik tried to retreat outside again, but Elijah held him back.

"Living room, everyone," he said.

Silently everybody obeyed and trotted into the adjacent room.

"How long have you been here?" Elijah asked, when inspecting the clean room.

It looked like it had recently been dusted.

"Not very long," Briony replied. "We cleaned in here while Rebekah was trying to figure out which room was safest."

"Who's we?" Nik asked.

Briony stopped in her walk. "I cleaned it. Just me."

Nik looked at her with a raised eye brow. "That is truly the saddest lie I have ever heard."

"Marcel was here, wasn't he?" he added, his eyes narrowing.

"It seems redundant to lie about it now," Briony said, leaning on the window frame that was the furthest away from Niklaus.

Niklaus was about to retort when Elijah interrupted: "Nevermind that, we have things to do."

"What?" Nik asked irritated.

"Oh let me think," Elijah said with a mocking voice. "There was a crazy witch who blew up our house last night. A hoard of werewolves keeps following us, demanding retaliation. And pretty much every supernatural being in this town is planning to kill us."

"Who even cares about that anymore?!" Nik said with vexation.

"Considering that not all of us are immortal beings?" Elijah said, nodding to Freya.

"Freya," Nik said, forcing himself to sound as nice as possible, "didn't you say you wanted to leave town as well? We can drop you off at the bus stop, if you like."

"No!" Freya exclaimed. "You can't leave me now!"

Elijah was surprised to hear the loud voice she suddenly had.

"I know I'm sounding very desperate, but I don't even care anymore," she added, when neither replied. "Not now when Dahlia is so close to me. I don't have a chance against her without you! You have to stay with me. Please."

She stressed every syllable. She was close to tears. But that might have been the lack of sleep.

"We can't leave her on her own now, Nik," Elijah gave in. "It's our fault that she's in danger in the first place."

Nik resigned with a grumble and turned away.

Freya ignored him.

"You'd know if someone was on their way here, right?" Freya asked, shooting a nervous glance to the window.

"We should protect this place somehow," Elijah said, glancing at Briony.

"Why?" Briony asked.

"Someone might have followed us and will try to attack us."

"Of course," she laughed. "What else could it be. There are always people somewhere who want to murder you."

"It's not so funny for those who haven't died yet," Freya said with resignation.

Freya seemed to have taken a vow to not get offended by anything that was said to her. Maybe she was that desperate about her situation. It was definitely a good quality to have when dealing with anyone in their family.

"If you're truly part of this family, I don't think you'll ever have to worry about dying again, love," Briony replied. "Considering…"

"Considering what?" Freya asked.

"I wish I could tell you. But I still don't know how they pulled off being alive until now," Briony said, glancing from Elijah to Niklaus.

"What do you mean?" Elijah asked.

She studied his face, trying to read him.

"It's 2016," Briony she said, as if that explained what she meant.

"That is correct," Elijah replied, questioning her.

Briony gaped at them, waiting for more to come.

"So?" Nik said.

"I mean, if you kept anything from Rebekah, because of some weird brotherly protection fantasy, I understand. No, I don't understand or approve of it, but I see why you two felt the need to do it."

"What are you talking about?" Nik asked, more impatient now.

She waited and looked back and forth between them, as if their expression would give anything away. Then she turned to Freya, who only shook her head in confusion. Her smile slowly vanished.

"So," Briony hesitantly began, "you should have died about 10 years ago, shouldn't you?"

* * *

 ** _1809, New Orleans_**

It felt like waking up from a dream. Not a nightmare, Kol thought. Was he happy that they suddenly were immortal again? He was still torn about that. He was definitely relieved. But the tiredness they all had when this whole immortality deal started was still there. And something told him that this wouldn't go away any time soon.

Elijah sat outside on the porch, absent-mindedly watching the fern moving in the wind.

"Too much excitement for you in there?" Kol asked.

Ever since they had got back the house had been in constant uproar. It reminded Kol of an excessive, emotional party where the guests went from ecstatically happy to unreasonably desperate to unnecessarily angry in a matter of seconds. He enjoyed it after the times of numbness but he understood that it could be too much for others.

"I forgot how loud it can get with all of us together," Elijah replied.

He looked stern, and a bit lost. Carefully Kol sat down next to him.

It had taken a lot of persuasion and effort to make Elijah turn around to New Orleans. Something had physically changed, Kol had felt it inside him. And he was sure that Elijah had felt it too. At first this hadn't been enough to convince Elijah to go back. If something bad had happened or if someone had been in danger they'd know, Elijah had said. Kol had no argument against that because he knew it was true. But it was still unreasonable to go on and keep looking for Katherine without knowing what had happened in New Orleans. Eventually Elijah gave in.

The reason why Kol wanted to bring him back so quickly was because time was running out. Because he worried that else it might have been the last time he had seen his brother. Now this urgent necessity of staying together was gone. Kol wanted his brother to stay, but he couldn't think of any reason now to keep him from going away. If Elijah wanted to continue his search, Kol was at a loss on how to stop him.

"I don't need company right now, Kol," Elijah said without looking at him.

"Right," he replied, without making any attempt to move.

Elijah didn't make any impression that he was about to leave.

Then Kol understood. The urgency of finding Katherine was gone too. Elijah had gone to look for her because he had to, because they might have been dead a year later. Now they were where they used to be, without any constraint of time. Why even bother running after someone when you have all the time in the world? This realization didn't seem to make Elijah very happy. Kol could tell that Katherine wasn't just a weird fling for his brother. Elijah had truly cared about her. That was something that Niklaus and Rebekah had trouble understanding. They weren't there in the last few years.

Inside Kol heard voices, happy voices. But Kol had no desire to go back inside. He should show more gratitude, he thought. Guilt nagged at him. Niklaus might be one of the most selfish people he knew, but he hadn't been working on that immortality spell for himself. He wanted to save all of them.

Kol hesitated. "Is it wrong to admit that I kinda enjoyed the last ten years?"

Elijah looked up.

"Not the dying part of course," Kol said quickly. "It just felt like we were never fighting during that time. This close death glooming over us made us forget all the small petty things, like they didn't matter at all. And they truly don't. Wasn't that …nice?"

"You're right," Elijah said. "It was nice."

"But I don't think everyone felt that way," he added.

Detaching themselves from Niklaus had been a major factor for why the last ten years had been agreeable. Kol was pretty sure that Nik and Rebekah had experienced the last ten years differently. He felt bad for leaving the two in this distressed state, while the rest of them were having a good time at the beach. Now that they had succeeded, maybe they could go back? Could they continue with the fun times?

But would it be the same?

"Would you have stopped her then?" Elijah asked. "If you'd been here?"

It wasn't an accusation. Elijah seemed genuinely interested in the question.

Kol considered it.

"No," he said.

Maybe it would have been instinct or a gut feeling, but in a situation like that he assumed everyone decided for survival.

"Would you have?" he asked.

"No," Elijah said decidedly. "I was unaware of the upsides of dying until we were immortal again."

As Kol went back inside, the party in the living room was still in full swing. He glanced over the room and saw that Briony wasn't there anymore and went upstairs to look for her. He found her in the bedroom.

"Are you hiding?" he asked.

"Maybe," she replied, lying on their bed, as she stared at the ceiling. "Or maybe I'm planning my own departure if you keep ditching me for Elijah."

From the smirk in her face he could tell that she wasn't serious.

"Maybe I should do that more often. I've been gone for… what, five days? And you quickly save everyone from their imminent deaths?" he said.

"What can I say, I wanted the glory all to myself," Briony said, yawning.

He studied her face. "And now everything's good for another thousand years?"

She didn't reply.

He waited.

Eventually she said: "No."

Relief. Why on earth was he feeling relief about this?

"The only thing I managed was to un-do Esther's spell from ten years ago," she added, as she sat up. "We're back to where we were before. You got about 200 years left. Maybe another 10 years added through Esther's death. But that's it."

"And why does everyone think that they'll live for another thousand years? What did you tell them?"

"I didn't lie!" Briony said offended. "They must have misunderstood me. I don't know how Nik jumped to the conclusion that this meant another 1000 years. But afterwards, I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth. He seemed so happy for once."

"Hm," Kol replied.

"Hm? That is your reply?"

"Yeah, I don't think I care too much about it anymore."

She sat up. "These stupid spells. I can't go through all this again, Kol."

"Me neither," he said.

"You're not going to tell them?" she asked.

"No, I don't think so," he replied.

He thought about it. Wasn't this ideal in a way? Nobody could stress themselves about dying if they didn't know they were going to die.

Perhaps he should tell Elijah though. He could deal with it. But right now, Kol was sure, he'd only use it to get revenge on Niklaus. The same problem was Finn. He of all his siblings, would probably the most accessible to the fact that death was still looming over them. But he didn't trust him enough for keeping it from the rest of his siblings. And right now, after murdering Esther and reversing her spell, Finn probably wasn't on speaking terms with any of them. Kol might tell him and Elijah when they were in better states again. When the whole family was back to being friends again. As if that would ever happen.

"Two hundred years is fine," Kol tried to reason.

"For you maybe," Briony replied moodily. "You're not the one who will be stuck here all by herself afterwards."

He got up. He suddenly had an idea. It was stupid and reckless and perfect.

"Then don't!" he said.

She looked at him bewildered. With a smile that told him that she wasn't taking him completely serious, she said: "You want me to kill myself?"

"No, of course not," Kol said. "I want to do what Esther did!"

"Shortening our lives to ten years?" she quizzed.

"No, binding our lives together, of course!" he replied celebratorily.

Before she could reply, he quickly added: "Don't you see how brilliant that is?"

"Why would you want to do that?" she said. But she looked intrigued. "You'd put your own life at risk continuously."

"I do that in any case," Kol waved her down.

If anything they had never lived a safe life.

"That also means that we can die of basic causes that every human dies of. I can die of the flu for instance," she replied.

"Why would I let you die of the flu, instead of just healing you?"

"I don't know. Maybe we'll end up in a situation where you can't get to me in time, and I get the flu and die."

"I'm not just going to leave you somewhere by yourself!"

"You've been away for the last five days!" she said in an accusing tone.

"I have a feeling that this will follow me for a very long time."

She stood up to level with him. "I had to talk to Esther, Kol! Esther! Because I was alone with her! And the sad thing is I basically did it on my own accord because I was that bored!"

"You're changing the topic. Don't you think this is a good idea?" he asked.

With a mixture of concern and seriousness, Briony replied: "I mean I've always been teasing you that I was going to live longer than you. But fact is that my life is much more fragile than yours. I'd put you in a much bigger disadvantage."

Then, after a pause, she added: "Wouldn't that make me very selfish?"

"No," Kol said. "It was my idea."

The longer he thought about it the more sense it made. Although he was sure Briony would outlive them all, there was this small but real chance that she wouldn't. And that made everything so much more dangerous. And so much more exciting.

"Do you really think that this is a good idea?" she asked.

"Yes," Kol said with determination.

He was convinced that this was the best idea he'd ever had.

* * *

 _ **Yay, I finally managed to update this story! In case some of you are wondering how long this story is going to be: I guess I'm about 2/3 through, so all in all it's probably going to be about 50 chapters.**_

 _ **Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you still like it!  
Let me know what you think in the comments!**_


	33. New Beginnings

**_Present Day_**

Niklaus had many questions for the universe. Why did everything around them get more convoluted by the second? He was right, none of the things that had happened mattered anymore. Not when everything kept being topped with a new, more complicated problem. He tried to wrap his head around the fact, that not only they were able to die, but that they should have died a while ago. He gave up on it. It was too confusing.

Shortly after that revelation, Elijah had decided they all needed to leave town. Niklaus wasn't sure how he had come to that conclusion. But according to Elijah, that was how they'd get rid off their small problems and could focus on the big one, the one about being supposedly dead. Nik had no argument against that. As always, New Orleans had brought nothing but trouble. They had tried to make it their home so many times but they kept failing. Maybe it was time to give it up after all.

Now all five of them were settled in the car that Elijah and Freya had arrived in earlier. They had decided to stop at the mansion and take their things on their way out of town. Where exactly they wanted to go they'd figure out later. Niklaus would have gladly gone on foot, but he didn't trust Briony on her own, and to some extent Freya neither. And if they wanted information about the state they were in later, they still needed one of them.

"How could you keep that from us?" Elijah asked irritated, glancing into the reflecting mirror of the car.

Nik had made Freya sit in the other front seat next to Elijah, so he'd be able to keep an eye on Briony. He eyed her next to him with suspicion.

"I didn't keep it from all of you. I told Kol. And he told Finn," Briony replied.

Then she nodded to Niklaus. "And he knew."

"No, I didn't?!" Nik said affronted.

She responded to his expression equally.

"When have I ever made the impression that I knew about this?!" he asked.

"Well," Briony hesitated, "it's nothing you said. But I figured deep down you knew the truth. You were there when I reversed the spell. But you didn't ask any questions about it afterwards, like you usually would have done. It was a weird moment to trust me blindly. I assumed that you didn't want to know. Because you were afraid of what I was going to say. It only made sense that you actually knew what was happening. "

Niklaus couldn't but feel hurt and disappointed about this. Every time he trusted someone for the sole reason that he thought they deserved his trust he was disappointed afterwards. Why did he even bother? And why did people keep pointing out that he had trouble trusting people? It were moments like this one that made it so obvious that he shouldn't. And he was disappointed with himself. He had always been so careful. Why had he trusted her in the first place? What had he been thinking?

"I thought you knew," Briony repeated, with a softer voice.

But he didn't care what she said anymore. He didn't want to make the same mistake again.

"I doesn't make a difference," Nik said passively and looked out of the window.

"How?" Elijah asked, unsure.

"Obviously we're fine. We're alive. I always thought she was lying about it."

"Seriously, we're back to the 'Briony is lying' logic?" Briony with a fatigued sigh. "I have no idea why I still bother trying to talk to you people."

Nik ignored her. "I mean it, Elijah. It doesn't matter. Even if there's some truth about it, we're not dead and are not going to be any time soon, just because she brought us bad news."

"So," Elijah replied skeptically, "you think we should ignore it?"

Niklaus hesitated. Ignoring something like that was against every fibre in his being. But then, he also didn't want to give Briony the satisfaction that anything she said carried weight. Absent-mindedly he played with the door handle of the car.

"Well," Freya and turned around to look at them, "there must be an explanation. Magic like that doesn't just happen. I am sure if we do some research we'll find a solution. I, personally, wouldn't ignore it."

Surprised he studied her serious face. Nobody had expected her to show interest in the subject. And it was the first time Nik had heard her speak about a 'we' that included her and him and his siblings. Either she meant it and she actually included herself in the family, or she tried to make herself indispensable with her knowledge. Nik hadn't decided yet which one was more likely.

"Have we met before?" Briony asked.

"Yes," Freya replied, somewhat intimidated. "1925."

Briony chose not to reply to that and watched her suspiciously.

Suddenly Niklaus felt a burning pain in his hand. The door handle was glowing red and he let go off it. Confused he stared at his burnt hand and then back at the door handle. Then he realized what or who had caused it. He turned to Briony, who had been observing him.

"Powers are coming back," she said with a stupid grin.

"You're the most obnoxious and childish person I have ever met," he said with an eye roll.

"I take that as a compliment."

He had the sudden urge to rip her head off. Why was it so hard to hate her? That would make everything so much easier.

"Can you please behave like adults?" Elijah asked tiredly.

"Are you talking to me," Briony asked, "or referring to the very adult-like behaviour of your brother who put Rebekah in the trunk, still with a stake in her heart?"

After some mean glances shot at the person next to him, Niklaus turned around and leaned over the back of his chair, to the adjacent trunk. Rebekah looked dead and pale but that's what they always looked like when staked. Even though he wasn't looking forward to her commentating on the situation, he knew he wasn't getting around reviving her now. It'd be unwise to keep her out of this.

"Can we please un-stake Rebekah now?" he heard Freya asking.

He grumbled silently. The next person who'd tell him what to do, Nik thought, he was going to use this stake on, human or not. He pulled the stake out of Rebekah, and sat back into his seat.

"There, happy?" he said with gritted teeth.

"Yes, actually," Briony replied smugly, watching Rebekah over her shoulder.

Soon there'd be one more person with unmistakeable opinions, making common decisions so much harder. Niklaus asked himself how they had ever managed to achieve anything in their lives.

If he was completely honest with himself, Niklaus had trouble getting worried about the most recent revelations. The fact that Briony was alive bothered him much more than the things she had said. It felt like they were making a fuss out of nothing. In a day or two, he was sure, they'd be back to normal.

* * *

 ** _1895, Savannah, Georgia_**

"Just try to be open to conversation this time, okay?" Kol said.

"Sure," Finn said with a nervous nod. "I'll try."

Any moment now the caravan of more siblings would arrive at their house. Only a week ago Finn would have never agreed to this, Flora was sure of it. Every now and then they had been getting letters from one of his siblings asking to reunite. Flora was surprised that they even bothered to write first instead of just showing up as they used to do in earlier days. Perhaps they felt guilty. It would serve them right after what they had done to Esther. It amazed her to what length they had gone, what they had done to their own mother, only for their own survival. Finn had not been happy about it at all. Those years leading up to their supposed death had been beautiful. Flora couldn't think of any other time she had enjoyed herself as much as then. This was probably the hardest to forgive. They had destroyed the best time of her life by adding another thousand stupid years to it.

Finn had felt the same and this is why they had decided to ignore any of his siblings from that moment onwards. It had worked pretty well for a while. That was until a week ago when suddenly Kol had shown up at their doorstep. Only after Finn had reassured that his brother was there on his own, they had let him in. Flora had given them some privacy to talk. All she knew was they had talked for a whole night. But Flora had no idea what they had talked about.

Flora didn't have any strong feelings about Kol. On her personal rating of Finn's brothers he was in the middle. She always had the impression that he and Finn had a rather superficial relationship. Finn rarely talked about him. But in his defense, Finn almost never talked about his family, especially the ones that Flora hadn't met. They had got along great with Elijah and Kol in Italy though.

Still, it was strange that Kol had suddenly been the one who tried to mend their family's relationship.

Whatever Kol had said must have had an effect on Finn. Because when they had finished their talk Finn had agreed to see the rest of his siblings. Flora was a bit wary about that decision but figured it was not her place to argue about it. After all they were his family.

"And you too, Flora. Try to be nice," Kol said.

"I'm always nice and polite," Flora replied, affronted.

"Nice and polite are not the same," Kol said. "Also, I don't know if you noticed, but you tend to have a very judgemental look when you're irritated. So try not to get irritated."

"Leave her alone," Finn said.

Then he turned to her with a smile: "Just be you."

A second later the door opened and Elijah, Rebekah, Briony and Niklaus appeared, one after the other. The noise level went up immediately. There seemed to be more than one person talking nonstop. Flora assumed that they were trying to avoid uncomfortable silences at all costs.

It had taken Flora a while to get used to the siblings. And even now she had a hard time to admit that she liked them. But she did like them. When she had been a child she had always wished to have a big family. Fair enough, she had never imagined it to be like this. But by now she had grown to like even the annoying perks of Finn's siblings that now she actually enjoyed seeing them. Especially Rebekah. Right after Flora had turned, she had trouble looking Rebekah in the eyes, who she blamed the most for her becoming a vampire. If she hadn't met and befriended her, none of this would have happened. But as the time passed, she saw more and more of Rebekah's old qualities again that made her like her in the first place. The rest she simply grew to like, particularly during their time in Italy. The odd thing was that she wanted them to like her as well. It felt good to be included.

The forced smiles quickly became actual smiles. She had to admit it seemed right to have all of them together.

"It has taken long enough, but it's good that we're finally together again," Elijah said.

 _And even without new schemes for murder_ , Flora added in her head.

They were truly improving.

"Yes, we should use this moment as a new beginning," Finn said.

The others eyed him curiously but gratefully. Even Flora was somewhat surprised by that. Before Kol had shown up, Finn hadn't mentioned that a new beginning with his siblings was something that he wanted. The sentiment felt right though. There was something positive in the air that was hard to ignore.

"Is this not a wonderful day, all of us together now?!" Niklaus said cheerfully.

He seemed to be in a good mood,.

"You're scaring me, Niklaus," Finn said with a small laugh. "But okay."

It took a while to give the newcomers a tour of the big house. For one, they were terribly slow with that many people that kept wandering around and asked questions. And the house was very big too. From the beginning Flora had thought that it was way too spacious for her and Finn alone. She had always wondered if Finn secretly expected his siblings to show up and had always planned to have rooms for them as well.

The next time Flora looked out of the window, it had already gone dark. She couldn't explain how the time had passed so quickly. All they had been doing was talking. Talking about the past, about what they were doing in the present, and what they had done in the meantime. Eventually, Flora decided that she had done enough mingling. Her face was hurting from making sure it did not look judgemental. Did she really look judgemental all the time? In one corner she saw Rebekah and Niklaus talking about something intently. But she had vowed to never use her powers to eavesdrop. It was very easy to not listen, but she doubted that anyone besides her ever chose to use that particular skill.

Silently she sneaked out of the room and stepped outside into the fresh night air. There was one perk of being a vampire that she had only recently grown to like, ever since they had moved into a busy town like Savannah. Only with her superior strength as a vampire she was able to take a walk all by herself whenever she liked, even in the middle of night, without being worried that something could happen. She never had to be afraid, and that was very liberating.

Only a few houses further than their own she saw a light in the window. Only recently the house had been empty. She was sure of that because she had been passing this street many times before. With curiosity she took a few steps closer. From the pathway that led beside the house she had a good view into the ground floor living room. The curtains were open. From what she could tell the room looked perfectly habitable, as if someone had been living there for a long time. That was odd.

Suddenly a man passed through the frame. He caught her eye through the window and stopped, evidently surprised to see her. For a second Flora considered turning away and rush back, but then she remembered again. She didn't need to be scared of anybody. If she wanted to get to know the neighbours in the middle of the night, nobody could stop her or harm her.

A few moments later the man reappeared at the front door.

"May I help you, Miss?" he asked.

He looked older than her, but she didn't dare to guess his age. He wore a well-tailored suit and seemed unfazed by her appearance.

"No, thank you," Flora replied. "I've just been passing by."

There was something familiar about him that made him feel equal to her. And then Flora noticed what it was.

"You're a vampire," she concluded.

That was obviously not news to him. And he knew that she was a vampire as well. But she wanted to make sure that they were on the same page.

He nodded with a genuine smile. "I hadn't expected to encounter any other vampires in such close distance to my new home."

"We have not been living here for very long ourselves actually," Flora replied.

She usually didn't befriend strangers that quickly. But this familiarity she felt made her trust him. Perhaps it had been the good atmosphere she had experienced all day, but she was in the mood for making new friends.

"I'm Flora," she said and reached out to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Flora. I'm Mikael."

* * *

 **This one's a bit shorter than the chapters before, but mainly because I had to cut it here because lots of stuff is going to happen in the next one. In general, I'm pretty excited about literally all the chapters that follow after this one, so stay tuned! 3**


	34. Together

**_Present Day_**

A cold breeze swept from the kitchen into the corridor. The gaping hole in the kitchen wall had not vanished in their absence. Elijah knew that he wasn't supposed to worry about the destroyed kitchen anymore. But as long as they were in the house his eyes kept wandering over to the kitchen door every few minutes, sensing the destruction behind it. Packing up the things they wanted to take with them had not taken very long. But they decided to wait for Rebekah to wake up so they didn't have to carry around her body. At least that was what Niklaus had suggested. Elijah figured that this was not the whole truth why he wanted to prolong their stop at the house. They still hadn't heard from Marcel. Briony had been telling them how he had helped her and Rebekah and had left with Davina afterwards. Elijah reckoned that Briony's goal was to make his brother feel bad about leaving Marcel behind. But even Elijah had to admit that they had been neglecting Marcel ever since they had arrived in New Orleans. This time it seemed only right to at least tell him where they were going and say good bye.

They had only been at the mansion for a few hours but it already felt like several days had passed. Nobody knew what to do while waiting. Niklaus was hiding in his room. It reminded Elijah of the time where they had first taken Briony in. Back then Niklaus too had been gravely irritated by her. But instead of fighting with her like he would have done with pretty much anyone else, he had simply avoided her at all costs. He had wanted something from her and couldn't afford to lose her. This felt strangely similar.

"How long does it usually take for you guys to wake up again?" Freya asked, warily watching her dead sister on the sofa.

"A few hours," Elijah replied. "Shouldn't take too long anymore."

He couldn't blame her for being freaked out by it. He never got used to his siblings in this weird dead state either.

"I'm sorry that you had to come along," Elijah said. "The last few weeks have been a bit intense."

Freya looked at him with tired eyes. They had been dragging her along for days now.

"Really," Freya said with a weak laugh. "I thought this is your usual Tuesday. Fighting for survival, stopping someone from murdering you. I'm sure there were plenty of people who tried to kill you before," Freya said.

And after a hesitant pause she added: "Even I tried it, not long ago."

It was almost funny. They had tried hard to persuade her to stay with them before, but she had been so vehemently against it. And now she practically begged to stay. Only a few weeks ago he wouldn't have bothered about her. And not long ago he had considered ditching her to catch up with his brother. But now that she actually needed their help he couldn't send her away.

"I'd say about 90% of the people we meet want to kill us at one point," Elijah replied.

The blasé tone he had when saying those things had long stopped to surprise him.

"But why does Briony bother him so much?" she asked.

"That's different," Elijah answered shortly.

"But how?" Freya urged.

He considered her for a moment. She didn't deserve that kind of trust, but then she was stuck with them. There was no way she could go back and tell the coven or anyone else that mattered. Elijah couldn't see a reason why he shouldn't tell her.

"Of all the people who tried to kill him, she got there the closest. By far," he said. "But more importantly, he liked her. He considered her to be his friend."

He paused for a moment, then added: "It was different."

They had stayed with Rebekah for another while, until everyone but Elijah had gone to bed. He became restless. Usually he waited until any of his siblings woke up from being unstaked. It seemed the proper thing to do. But this time it just went on for too long. He wanted to leave.

It was odd. Was time passing so slowly? He checked his watch. It had been 8 hours. Was that normal? He tried to recall all the other times when had waited for his siblings to wake up. Neither Finn, nor Kol had ever taken that long. Not sure what else to do, he moved closer to her. The hole in her chest from the dagger was still there. Perhaps a part of the dagger was still stuck in her chest. He inspected the dagger that was still lying on the table. It looked fine and whole. He didn't know what else he could do.

With an uneasy feeling in his stomach, he went upstairs to look for his brother. He found him in his room, defiantly sitting in a corner, reading a book.

"Go away," Niklaus said.

Then he looked up. "Oh, it's you."

"Nik, can you come down for a moment?" Elijah said with a confused voice. "I think there's something wrong with Rebekah."

"What do you mean?"

"She hasn't woken up yet."

"Well, that usually takes a while, doesn't it?" Nik looked back to his book again.

Being stuck in the house had taken its toll on him as well. Elijah ignored his grumpiness.

"It has been 8 hours, Niklaus."

They went down together and looked at their dead sister. Nik studied the body and the dagger in the same way Elijah had a few minutes earlier. Elijah pretended to follow his steps, as if the the same actions in Niklaus' hands could lead to a different conclusion.

"I mean the length of time until you guys woke up did vary sometimes," Nik said.

His voice wasn't convincing.

"What can we do?" Nik asked, unsure.

A few moments later they had woken up Briony, who reluctantly followed them into the living room. Again, she first looked at the hole in Rebekah's chest and then inspected the dagger.

"There's nothing wrong with the dagger. We already checked," Nik said impatiently.

Too tired to give a retort, she turned back to Rebekah with contemplative eyes. The longer she stared at Rebekah the clearer it became that she had no idea what was wrong with her.

The next few hours they were trying to stake and unstake her again, trying to find if anything was stuck in her chest, to feed her blood and Briony casting spells over her to find the source of the problem. Nothing worked.

Elijah watched the red light setting over the garden. They had been working on it the whole night.

"Guys," Briony said and he turned around again.

Briony was kneeling next to her, inspecting something on Rebekah's face.

"What?" Nik said, moved closer and sat down next to her.

"Those dark spots here at the bottom of her neck. They weren't there before."

"What does that mean?" Elijah asked.

"She's decomposing."

Elijah tried to make sense of what that meant. His mind went blank.

After a long pause where nobody dared to say anything, Briony said with a thin voice: "I don't think she'll wake up."

Elijah shook his head absent-mindedly. That didn't make any sense.

"Of course she will!" Nik said. "The dagger can't actually hurt her."

"Her body shows all the signs of it. She's -"

Nik interrupted her. "No!"

Briony winced at his outburst. Trembling, she turned back to Rebekah. Elijah could hear Briony's heart beating and her breathing getting faster, as if her own words had caught up with her. The panic building in her slowly caught on to Elijah. He felt his own bones shaking now.

"No!" Nik said again and grabbed her arm.

He must have been listening to her heart well.

In a mixture of panic attack and fear, Briony began to whimper with short-breathed sobs. Elijah's insides felt like they were about to crumble. The reality they had been trying to ignore for the last 15 hours finally hit him. They couldn't do anything. She was dead.

* * *

 ** _1895, Savannah , Georgia_**

For the fourth time Niklaus had lifted his hand to knock at the door but jumped back before he touched it. The frame of Finn's door was towering over him menacingly. He went through the things he wanted to say again. It had taken him half of the morning to work up to the courage to come up here. Why was this so hard? He had been rehearsing the apology with Rebekah. They had been thinking about the exact words he could say to Finn that might make him forgive him. Rebekah had been sure that if they practised hard enough Finn would forgive Niklaus. And then they could actually live together in peace. Niklaus wasn't so sure. And now, half of those words he planned to say seemed to have slipped out of his head the second he had stepped in front of that door. And the other half suddenly sounded completely unconvincing. But he had to say something. There was no way he'd turn back now.

Suddenly the door opened. Out of reflex, Nik jumped a step back. Finn observed his brother with a raised eyebrow. He didn't look angry, but not very amicable either. It was hard to say what his brother was thinking.

"Is there a reason why you're lurking outside of my room?" he asked.

"Yes," Nik said.

He almost forgot that he was supposed to say more than this.

After a weird break he added: "Can we quickly talk about something?"

Finn considered him for a moment, then said: "Sure."

Then he stepped out of the way for Niklaus to come inside. Niklaus glanced around the room without taking anything in. Then he sat down on one of the chairs. He immediately regretted it. That was the kind of behaviour he was trying to avoid, taking charge of everything even if people didn't want that. He hoped Finn wasn't already offended by that. Finn's reaction was hard to read, but to Nik's relief, he sat down as well. He looked at him expectantly. Niklaus realized that he wasn't getting any help from Finn in starting the conversation.

"I wanted to talk about…" Nik stammered, and broke off.

No, this was not how his apology had started when he had practised it with Rebekah. What was it?

Then he began again, even more anxious than before: "What I'm trying to say is that I want to apologize. I'm aware that you drew the short straw every time I wanted something. I am sorry for… everything. I'm sorry that we never got along. That's something I never wished. And I'm sorry that I never tried to see your side of things. And I wanted to, you know, apologize."

Somewhere far away, he was sure, Rebekah was screaming at his sudden lack of eloquence that he had accomplished in this vital moment. He was questioning his skills on how to form sentences as well. But it was too late. None of it mattered anymore. The words were out. He waited. If ever, now was the moment he dearly wished to turn back time for only a minute so he could rephrase that apology.

Finn raised an eyebrow. Nik's fingers were fiddling with the seam of the chair cushion. When he noticed what he was doing he made himself stop and folded his hands in his lap. There had always been something that made Niklaus feel intimidated by Finn. The kind of feeling of a younger brother looking up to an older brother. There had been this constant urge to impress him. And Nik knew that he had always been failing miserably. It was odd, he never had that feeling with Elijah who was technically older than him as well. Elijah felt much more like an equal.

"Alright," Finn said.

Nik paused, assuming something else was coming. It didn't.

"Alright?" Nik replied, trying to hide the mountain of insecurity inside him.

"Yes," Finn said. "Bygones."

Nik stared at his brother in disbelief. It couldn't be that easy.

Finn seemed to take up on his skepticism and added: "Your apology seems genuine enough. And you and the rest of the lot being here and keeping it together, and actually behaving shows that you're trying. And I don't want to be the one who breaks it all up. We're good."

"Okay," Nik said slowly. "Great."

He couldn't believe that Finn had actually said that they were good, but there was no way he'd ruin the moment with a sign of doubt. Too scared to break this fragile new-found peace Nik stayed frozen in his chair.

Finn was about to get up, but then changed his mind. Instead he moved his chair closer to his brother.

"Listen," Finn began. "Despite what you might think about me, I've never hated you or anything along those lines. I may not agree with your methods or the way you deal with things in general, but I can see why you do it. You're doing all those things to protect the rest of us. And I appreciate that you care about our siblings so much. I do too. Even the thing with the additional thousand years, or when you destroy the aspirations of our siblings, or destroy our sister's chance on having a relationship with our mother, you think about the long run for everyone. In the end you do have good intentions."

"I'm sorry. I know that immortality was something you never wanted."

Finn shook his head with a small laugh. "To be honest, I would have been very surprised if none of you had pulled a stunt like that. But what's done is done. And since we got this second chance, if we like it or not, we should try to do it better this time."

Niklaus had a thought that he doubted that he should speak out loud, but then he went for it anyway. "You know, if we were in reversed places, I'm not sure I would be as forgiving."

"I wouldn't think so either. But maybe, for once, take me as an example. I don't know if you noticed but we're very different people," Finn said.

"No kidding," he replied.

Finn stood up and walked over to the door. It felt like Nik had been dismissed from an office. But still, he felt much better than before.

"Now go and terrorize someone else," Finn said with an amicable smile.

Deep in thoughts Niklaus walked along the corridor until he reached the window that surveyed the walk up to the entrance. He blinked. The conversation had gone well. Very well. He tried to think of anything that could have been misunderstood, anything that could lead to a new quarrel. But the conversation had been honest and clear. He had apologized and Finn had forgiven him. It was as simple as that.

"What is going on with you?" Rebekah asked, who had suddenly appeared behind him.

"I talked to Finn," he said, still looking at the shimmering glass in front of him.

"About what?" Rebekah asked unfazed.

He turned around.

"No, you don't understand. We had a conversation. Like people who get along with each other," Nik said.

He repeated that in his head. This had never happened before. It was truly a milestone in their history as brothers.

"Did you apologize? The way we practised?" she asked eagerly, finally catching up on what he was saying.

Nik nodded. "I couldn't remember anything I meant to say though."

"But he accepted your apology?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said.

Finn actually accepted it. The truth slowly hit him. It wasn't the kind of reconciliation where they decided to simply endure each other for the sake of everybody else. It felt genuine. He hadn't expected that reconciliation felt that nice.

"That's wonderful!" Rebekah exclaimed and hugged him.

"What did he say?" she asked when she let go off him.

Niklaus recapitulated what Finn had said. He was actually very eager to talk about it. It gave him a chance to go through all the words they had exchanged again and think about what they meant.

"There was so much more I meant to say though," Nik said, feeling some kind of disappointment.

It was still bugging him that he had completely sat on his mouth the second he got into Finn's room.

"But that doesn't matter anymore," Rebekah said gleefully. "He accepted your apology. That's all that counts in the end!"

"Yeah," Nik said half-heartedly.

"If it bothers you that much, you should have many opportunities in the future to tell him whatever you like. I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

"You think?" he said shyly.

Rebekah tried to establish what kind of relationship they were having now. To be honest, Nik didn't want to be alone with Finn, because he was afraid that he'd mess up the whole situation. But he wouldn't mind seeing him at dinner together with the others now. That'd be nice. Rebekah came to the same conclusion that family dinners would be much better now and began to make plans for the evening.

Nik listened but his mind trailed back to his conversation with Finn. There was something Finn said that he had just remembered now. Something that needed to be set straight.

"Rebekah, I suppose I should have said this much earlier. But I'm sorry for how I treated you in New Orleans. I know you had other plans with Esther before I used her, I mean killed her, for that spell," he said.

Surprised by the change of topic, Rebekah was quiet for a moment.

"You don't have to apologize for saving our lives, Nik," she eventually said.

"Still, I know I went over your head with that decision. I never asked you if you were okay with it. And I'm sorry for it."

She looked at him curiously.

"How come you're saying this now?" she asked.

He shrugged. The thought of apologizing had occurred to him all of a sudden, and something told him he should done it a long time ago. Why then had he never had the need to do it before? Perhaps it had to do with his conversation with Finn. It felt like something had opened up in him. He enjoyed being liked by his siblings. That was nothing new, but it seemed only today he had a special capability to say the right, albeit rhetorically poorly chosen, words. And he doubted that his talk to Finn would have gone so well without Rebekah's help. And for that alone she deserved the same, if not much more. What would he ever do without her?

Rebekah seemed to be in thoughts. "During that time in New Orleans everything, particularly the five of us, felt disconnected. Like we made everything worse by not being together. All of you were off doing something else on their own. You in New Orleans; Elijah, Finn and Kol in Italy… And the situation just deteriorated without anyone doing something useful. It felt lonely, you know. And when mother was there I felt some sort of connection again. It was brutal to be ripped away of that feeling, you know."

"I'm sorry. You never deserved any of this," he said, realizing once again that his words were not good enough.

"I mean it. You don't need to apologize for it. If that's what it needed to bring the rest of you together. I don't even care that much about immortality, as long as the five of us are together again. That's what will give us strength in the end."

He thought about her words. Rebekah kept saying things like that. Even though Niklaus preferred to do important things on his own, he wondered if she was right.

When he didn't reply, Rebekah added: "Consider, it was like everything magically solved itself when you and I and Kol and Elijah reunited in New Orleans."

"Magic being a key element for that."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "You're all idiots."

"Not what I expected to hear after apologizing, but thanks."

Rebekah shrugged.

"You need reminding of that from time to time. What is going on with you anyway? Are you working on your apology quote?" she asked in a lighter tone.

"I feel like I'm not being taken completely serious here. Maybe I should return to my new favourite sibling Finn and complain about you instead," he made a superficial attempt of walking away from her.

She held him back and grabbed him into a forceful hug. "No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way!"

Then she let go again and corrected herself: "Wait, why am I apologizing to you now? How are you doing that again? For the record, I'm not sorry. But I do accept that apology of yours."

He smiled. "Glad to hear it."

She returned the smile with some suspicion. "You can be terribly sweet sometimes. I'm not sure I like it."

* * *

 ** _Yeah I'm not going to comment on that one._**


	35. Dead Sister

**_Present Day_**

What ironic whim of destiny had brought her back just to witness this? In the last few weeks Briony couldn't have cared less if she were here or not. And now, just in the moment where she had thought 'hey, it's actually nice to be back with those people', someone had died. It was unreal. Briony tried to remember what death felt like. She had no memories of it. Although she thought there should have been. This absence in her head, it felt like a dream she had forgotten. She had been dead, hadn't she? Had it been scary? She didn't know anymore. Then why was the thought of Rebekah being dead so terrifying?

Her lips were pressed together, trying to keep any weep and sorrow in. It didn't work. Her mind was burning and the rest of her body hurt. She couldn't tell how long she had been kneeling in front of the body in this position. She had cried for a long time, then stopped, only to start crying again.

There must be an explanation for this. An explanation meant that maybe there would be a way to fix it.

"It must have been because you're getting weaker," Briony concluded, mostly whispering to herself.

She didn't dare to look at anyone in the room. Seeing either of their faces would have been too much to bear.

"Those silver stakes. I think they can kill you now."

The stake still lay on the coffee table next to her. For hours they had been trying to find out if someone had tempered with it. But it was still the same intact silly stake as before. Only now its power had become fatal. Why had Niklaus never thought of that? He used to think of everything. She wanted to be angry at him, but she couldn't bring herself to feel anything but grief.

"When was the last time you have used one of them, Niklaus?" Briony asked, forcing herself to look at him.

His face was death all over again. It was distorted past the feeling of pain. He still looked down at the body in front of them, but his eyes seemingly looked right through it. There was something dead and empty in his eyes. She had never seen him like that.

"Don't remember," he said blankly.

She doubted he had actually heard her. Everything about him said 'dead sister'.

"1964," she heard Elijah say.

"Hmm," Briony replied.

That was all she managed to say without sobbing.

There was no need to say anything else. It didn't matter how it happened. There was no way to fix it.

They sat in silence for a very long time. She wanted to leave, run away from this place. But she didn't know where to go. What did she use to do when something terrible had happened? Go to the ones that loved her and were able to make her feel better. But the only people she knew in this world were in this room, and right now she doubted that either of them cared much for her. Maybe it was terribly selfish but right now she only craved for affection, anything that'd make her feel less alone. It wouldn't need to be much, even just short eye contact to establish that they share the pain. She glanced over to Nik next to her. It was clear that he was far beyond any kind of possible reaction to her.

Hesitantly she turned to Elijah behind her. He stood at the wall opposed to them, leaning against the tapestry. He seemed exhausted, weak, as if he had been in a fight.

Only now Briony noticed that Elijah wasn't looking at the body. He was looking at Nik. He seemed in the process of saying something.

Briony waited.

Her change in position seemed to have woken up Nik from his thoughts. He turned around as well and looked at his brother questioningly.

With a very low and trudging voice, Elijah began to speak: "Why couldn't you, just that one time in our bloody miserable lives, listen to me?"

Elijah was trying to restrain himself, but Briony could feel the hate arising from the words. It felt like he was about to say more, but then stopped. Briony was glad he didn't continue. She had a bad feeling on where this would have gone. And she wouldn't have had the strength to watch them fight over the grief.

Nik looked at his brother in shock. He understood. The words couldn't have been a surprise. He must have asked himself how it had happened and what role he had played in it. But it was something else if someone spoke it out loud. Especially, if it came from Elijah.

"I…" he began, but then broke off.

There was nothing he could say that could make this any better. Fear was overtaking his eyes. Broken down he stared at the floor.

With insecurity he turned to Briony. Until now, she had tried to ignore who was to blame. It felt like he was searching an answer in her face, as if she could tell him that he wasn't at fault. She didn't react to it. She didn't know what to think. Could this have been prevented? She knew it could have. But unlike Elijah, she had trouble blaming just one person. She had fallen back into her old patterns very easily and had provoked Nik to no end when they had faced each other. But back in the day she had powers to protect herself and fight back, and this time she had relied on Rebekah doing it for her. She had practically thrown her into the crossfire only because she had wanted to tease Nik. Maybe he was to blame, maybe she was. Probably all of them had a part in it. But it didn't matter anyway. Rebekah was dead, and they couldn't undo it.

Within a split second he got up and grabbed Briony's arm. She made a shocked gulp of air, by the sudden touch.

"You have to change it!" he demanded.

She looked at him in terror, her tears running down. "What?"

"You have to do something!" he said again.

"What on earth do you want me to do? It's too late now! She's dead!" she exclaimed, scared of whatever had caused his new found hope.

Nothing she had done suggested that she could save her or any of them. Or was that why she was here now? Was that why _he thought_ she was here?

Niklaus shook his head determined, as if that annihilated her reply.

"I can't!" Briony replied, in tears. "I don't know what to do!"

Helplessly she looked at Elijah, but he didn't pay any attention to them. His eyes gazed somewhere into nothingness. He didn't even seem to listen to what Niklaus had said.

"We have to do something," Nik repeated, and pulled her up.

It shouldn't have been a surprise. He of all people would not accept an end, and she knew that. The thought that this was the end was unbearable.

"Niklaus, don-" she heard Elijah say, rubbing his forehead.

His words sounded empty, more like a reflex. She doubted he actually cared what Nik was about to do.

Against her will she was set on her feet. Within the haziness of her watery eyes she glanced on last time at Elijah. He ignored them. There was nothing in her left to resist, as she let herself being swept out into the hallway.

* * *

 ** _Savannah, Georgia, 1895_**

Flora had quickly learned that there was no way the siblings would adapt to her life. It had always been the other way around. With that many people in the house it was hard to think sometimes. From time to time she imagined a life in a convent. It would be a quiet life. But she'd like that. She could read and study, write or just have a lot of time to think. But that would mean a life without Finn. And that would be bleak. There was no one that'd understand her like him.

A plan had been made for a long and excessive night out. Flora was looking forward to it. Not because she wanted to go along, but because she'd be able to stay back and have the house for herself at last. Her plan didn't work out though. When Rebekah had heard that Flora wanted to stay in, she thought it was a great idea. And soon after she had convinced Briony to stay as well, so the three of them could stay back together. It wasn't the night that Flora would have chosen herself, but there was no way around it now. Something else preoccupied her mind anyway. She was still surprised that Finn had agreed to go out with his brothers in the first place. That and why he had let them back into his life was a mystery to her. She had meant to ask Finn about it again, but when she had gone to look for him he was nowhere to be found. Instead she found Kol in the hallway, waiting for the others, ready to leave.

"What did you tell him?" Flora asked Kol, as she walked up to him. "To persuade him?"

After she had spoken them out loud, she wished she hadn't started the conversation with these words. It must have sounded terribly stern.

Kol didn't seem to be bothered by it. "There was no persuasion involved. It was his idea to go out."

She rolled his eyes. She was sure he knew what she was talking about.

"That's not what I meant. Why did he change his mind about you staying here? What did you tell him?"

Kol glanced at the ground, then turned to her.

"The truth. That we miss him and that we should be together."

"Really," Flora said with a raised eyebrow. "Basically you said the same thing you kept pushing in the letters? And that was enough?"

Kol shrugged. "My charming smile might have helped."

Flora didn't buy it. There was something he didn't want to tell her, but Flora had no idea what it could be. Before Finn's siblings had arrived she was sure there would have been nothing that would persuade him to let them back into his life. But now, there they were.

"Always with the skepticism, Flora," he teased her. "Are you not happy to see us?"

"Sure," she said, unsatisfied by the answer.

It didn't sound like it, but she actually meant it.

"Maybe you are scared of a boring happy ending."

"Happy endings never bored me."

But she doubted that this was going to have a happy ending.

Soon after the others had come down and there had been no time to ask him or Finn any more questions. At least not in private. She didn't want the others to think that she was ungrateful that they were here. It was nothing like that at all. But something about their presence here was unusual. Flora decided she'd ask Finn when he came back and when they were alone.

Although she would have preferred it, there was no time to rest on these thoughts. The second the others had left, Rebekah pulled Flora back into the living room.

The next few hours passed very quickly. She couldn't explain how this could have happened. Suddenly Flora heard herself telling a lengthy story about when they had been in France and she had met Rebekah. She couldn't remember the last time she had stood that much in the spotlight. But now that she was she had a hard time to stop talking.

Part of her felt nostalgic about the time when she had been a human, but that part kept getting smaller. Although she kept telling herself something else, now all those years later, she didn't believe she had been very happy back then. Content maybe. The short time before her turning into a vampire, when she had met Rebekah, was her favourite. Those few months had been the happiest. She remembered how she had been excited at first that Rebekah would introduce her whole family to her. But then the thought of having so many people around her all the time had made it much more difficult. She had wanted to like Rebekah's brothers, but it hadn't been easy. And Briony had been a whole other thing. She had been someone Flora would have never spent time with if she had had a say in it. But despite her loud and somewhat vulgar behaviour, Flora had envied her, because Rebekah seemingly liked her better than Flora. Now all those years later, Flora couldn't tell if that actually had ever been true. She had always been so insecure about those things.

But even now, after all this time, Flora would never tell this to either of them. They didn't need to know. Instead she blurted out more stories that had nothing to do with envy but were just as embarrassing.

"And the silverware I can't believe you left that behind, Rebekah. It had been a present from the ambassador of Denmark, and you just threw it away as if it had no value at all. If I knew what you were doing with the whole household in France I'd have come back to save some of it. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I was so relieved when I heard that Kol had kept that expensive pocket watch that had belonged to my family. And don't look at me like that, Briony. He's only number two, so don't even pretend to worry. Anyway, if I had known-"

"Did you just call Kol number two?" Briony interrupted. "In what is Kol number two?"

"Nothing," Flora said quickly.

She should stop talking. What was it with her today that she kept blurting out words?

The reply didn't seem to suffice for neither Rebekah nor Briony. They both stared at her, giving her their complete, and very intimidating full attention.

"I may have…" the words escaped Flora before she could stop them, "rated Finn's brothers on a scale on who I like best to least."

"What?!" Rebekah laughed loudly.

The room erupted in laughter.

"Then what is the rest of the rating?" Rebekah asked.

"Now that's not hard to figure out," Briony snorted. "She obviously doesn't have Nik as her number one."

Rebekah and Briony exchanged a look and laughed again.

Flora felt her face burning up.

"I think I'm gonna go upstairs now," Flora said embarrassed and tried to get up.

"No!" Rebekah grabbed her into a hug. "We're just teasing you. Stay!"

Trying to hide her mortified face, Flora let herself being pulled back onto the sofa. Thankfully, the others didn't press the topic any further, even though she could read in their faces how much they wanted to.

It was weird. Talking about things like that was usually her absolute nightmare. But it actually felt like a relief to be able to talk about anything on her mind. She was surprised. None of her stories she told tonight had been particularly exciting, but the others still had listened with interest. She was actually grateful for having them here. Maybe that was one of the perks of being immortal as well. With that much time even people like Flora could manage to warm up to people.

They had spent at least another hour talking, when they circled back to the topic of having spent so many centuries together, and being able of having that many experiences.

"I suppose it's not as fun as growing up and birthing children and stuff like that, but I'd say it's pretty great," Rebekah said.

Flora had a hard time replying to this. She wanted to tell Rebekah the truth. It was something that Flora had only recently admitted to herself. If she could pause her life right now and look at it, she'd see a good life. There was not much regret in it. She was happy.

"We can still go out as well," Rebekah suddenly said and got up determined.

"I don't think so," Flora replied and nodded to the sofa.

Holding on to one of the pillows, Briony lay on the sofa, fast asleep. It would be easy enough to wake her up, but it was a welcome excuse for Flora to stay inside.

"Still, it can't be that they're having all that fun when we're here. I'm gonna go and get them to come back," Rebekah decided.

Flora felt that this was unnecessary, but she knew already she wouldn't be able to change Rebekah's mind.

"Watch her, okay?" Rebekah said, nodding down on the sleeping Briony.

A second later she swept out of the living room.

"Let's just leave it be," Flora shouted after her. Rebekah didn't reply.

Flora sighed. It would have been easier to move the house to the brothers than convincing Rebekah.

She was about to let herself fall on the sofa next to Briony, when noticed the silence. She hadn't heard the door shut when Rebekah had left. She must still be there.

"Rebekah?" Flora asked, warily walking into hallway.

Something was wrong. Rebekah stood frozen in the hallway, her eyes fixed on the entrance, ready to attack.

In the entrance stood the vampire who lived in the house nearby. Mikael.

He and Rebekah glared at each other.

"Wait, do you know him?" Flora asked, her fear rising by the second.

"Flora, leave," Rebekah said without taking her eyes off Mikael.

"No, let her stay," Mikael replied. "From what I heard she's part of this just as much as the rest of you."

"How did you find us?" Rebekah asked.

Mikael held up a piece of paper. It was a letter. It looked familiar but Flora couldn't recognize to whom it belonged.

"A letter addressed to a Finn Mikaelson living at this address, sent by Elijah Mikaelson. Interesting habit that you picked up writing letters to each other."

"What do you want?" Rebekah asked.

"That is a very good question, daughter of mine."

Rebekah didn't reply. Flora assumed she was going through her options on what to do. Oddly enough she stayed put. That scared Flora. What was going on? Should she do something? Could she do something?

"A few years ago I had an interesting encounter. A vampire boasted about you, how you had managed to prolong your lives even more. Now we can't have that, can we?"

Rebekah waited, her hands curled up to fists.

"And since the five of you so vehemently fight against death, I must intervene. You had fun for long enough. Now it's time to end this."

This time Rebekah had opened her mouth to say something, but Flora never heard what it was. At the same time the cabinet that stood between them loudly crashed to the ground. Flora hadn't seen if it was Rebekah or Mikael that had smashed it. The only thing she could do was jumping back into the living room, hearing the lustres in the hallway falling down and breaking into million pieces.

One thing about this was clear to Flora from the beginning. She had never had a chance.

* * *

 _ **I have been a bit slow with an update for this one, but the good news is the next chapter is almost ready as well! So stay put for another few days for the next update! :-)**_

 _ **As always thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**_


	36. Marcel

**_Present Day_**

Elijah had often thought about his own death. That seemed so much more real to him. Or even Niklaus' death. This was worse.

He would have gladly exchanged his life or anyone else's in return for Rebekah's. It wasn't fair. And his stupid, stupid brother. If he was able to face his problems, instead of just staking his siblings whenever they talked against him, Rebekah would be fine now.

A loud crack from the entrance door echoed through the house. Someone must have smashed open the door. He was already dreading whatever meaningless confrontation was coming. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the sofa frame. He didn't care. No matter who it was he couldn't care less.

After several trampled steps through the hallway, he could tell from the sound that it was Davina. He wished he could stop her from coming any closer. A second later the door to the living room flew open.

"There you are," Davina shouted without breath.

Davina felt like a memory from a life long ago. He barely remembered why they had been looking for her at one point. It seemed so unimportant now.

When she saw him and Rebekah lying next to him on the sofa, she stopped in her pose. Elijah could tell from the expression in her face the second she had reached the crucial conclusion.

"What…" she began, then broke off.

"Uhm," she said, now with a much more shattered voice, "where is Niklaus? I need him."

Her eyes stuck on the body on the sofa.

"I don't know," Elijah replied blankly, turning away.

Why couldn't she just go away?

"It's, uhm" Davina began to stutter. "It's Marcel. We need your help."

"Not right now, okay?" Elijah replied, barely looking up.

Elijah waited. Davina didn't move.

Her voice had regained some of her strength again. "He was bitten by a werewolf. I need to find Niklaus right now."

Slowly her words registered in his brain. It sounded important. Elijah pulled himself up to sit straight. His whole body ached but he tried to make a coherent thought. Where did Niklaus go? He hadn't bothered to ask. He hadn't cared. There had been absolutely no need for the additional drama Nik had created. Part of him was glad that Nik had gone away. Elijah just wanted to be alone. But at the same time he wished his brother hadn't left. He wanted to shout at him, hit him, hurt him. Now he felt terribly lonely. He tried to shake these feelings off. What had Davina said again? Marcel.

"He was bitten by a werewolf?" Elijah repeated.

"Yes!" Davina almost shouted.

Even though he couldn't feel anything but grief, the seriousness of the issue began to sink in.

"Where's he now?" Elijah asked, getting his thoughts straight. "Marcel?"

"Outside. In the car," Davina said without breath, motioning to the hallway.

He needed to act. It felt unbearably hard to do, but Elijah stood up.

He wasn't sure if she had been there the whole time, but suddenly he heard Freya speak.

"What is going on?" she asked.

"It's Marcel. He's dying," Davina replied, trying to sound calm.

She already stood in the doorway, waiting for Elijah.

Freya's face became concerned. "What?"

"Stay here," Elijah told her. "Please."

It felt wrong to leave Rebekah behind.

He tried to get rid off the ton of grief from his skin. He couldn't. But this was important. He had to concentrate.

He followed Davina out of the house to the car that had been parked in a rush in front of the house.

It was bright and sunny out there. He'd have preferred darkness right now.

Elijah opened the door to the back seat.

Marcel was much worse than he expected. He lay on the back seat cowering. His eyes turned in a weird as he continually cringed together in pain. He was very pale.

"Marcel?"

Elijah tried to get his attention, but he soon realized that Marcel wouldn't be able to give him a coherent reply. As if in a vivid fever dream Marcel moved back and forth his eyes getting in and out of focus within seconds. Elijah doubted that Marcel could even hear him.

"How long ago was this?" Elijah asked in terror.

It looked like he had been bitten several hours ago. What had Davina been doing this whole time? She must have known that she'd need to act quickly.

"An hour maybe?" Davina said, checking her watch.

She too seemed surprised on how terrible Marcel looked.

How did this even happen? Who had bitten him? Elijah wanted to ask her but there was no time. Marcel was in serious danger to die. They had to act fast.

"Where's Niklaus?" Davina asked again.

"I don't know," Elijah said.

He thought hard. He was sure that when his brother had impulsively pulled Briony out of the house that he didn't take his phone with him. He considered rushing into all possible directions, checking the summer house. But that would be unwise. In the time he went there and back again, Marcel might be dead. For a second he considered carrying him, but the additional movement for Marcel would only make the werewolf venom spread faster. And that couldn't happen under any circumstances. Elijah's mind began to race, thinking for any possible solution.

Usually he could solve anything with logic, a reasonable thought out plan. There was nothing. He couldn't think of anything bullet proof to do.

The cold terrifying thought crept over him that they very likely were not going to make it.

"Okay, we'll take the car," Elijah decided, looking at Marcel's ever paler face. "And drive to the summer house. Most likely he'll be there."

"Most likely?!" Davina exclaimed. "We don't have time to drive back and forth in case he's not!"

"I can see that," Elijah replied, his mind blank.

"What if he's not there?!" Davina shouted in desperation.

Elijah didn't reply. He didn't want to think about a scenario where Niklaus was somewhere else. This was their only hope.

"Hold him still. That might keep the venom at bay."

A moment later they were on the road. Elijah tried to blank out any kind of stress, and focus on the street in front of him. There was no time to lose. From the back seat he heard inconceivable noises from Marcel and Davina's constant trembling voice that spoke to him. Her voice got more desperate by the second. In the reflective mirror he saw she was trying to hold Marcel still, but there was only so much a thin girl like her could do to hold down a vampire.

Had the road out of town always been that long? It felt like they had been driving forever.

It must have been halfway to the summer house when something in Davina's voice changed.

"Oh no."

Elijah watched her from the reflective mirror. For a second she stopped completely still in her motions and took a long silent breath. Then, out of nowhere, Davina started to shake Marcel violently.

"Wake up!" Davina wailed. "Wake up!"

At one point Elijah must have stopped the car and got out of it, because suddenly he found himself on the back seat with her, pulling Marcel out of the car and looking at his dead, unmoving body.

This could not be happening. It felt so unreal. Was this a strange never-ending nightmare he couldn't wake up from?

* * *

 ** _1895, Savannah, Georgia_**

They had almost reached the house after their long night out. Niklaus looked over his shoulder. Somewhere on the road behind them Elijah and Finn did this thing where they talked about serious adult-like things that made everyone else feel excluded. Niklaus couldn't but feel annoyed by it.

"Are you jealous?" Kol asked in disbelief.

"No," Nik said, trying to not bit his lip.

"Because that's what you look like when you broodily stare at them from a distance. And besides-"

Kol stopped in his tracks. They had reached the house. But he wasn't smiling anymore. His eyes were filled with concern.

"What is it?" Nik asked.

"There's no heart beat in the house."

Nik couldn't follow. "What?"

"I mean there's no heart beat in the house," he stressed again.

It took Niklaus a moment to put together what Kol meant. Then he noticed it too. The house was quiet. There was no one alive in there. Briony wasn't in it. Nik was sure that there must be a logical explanation for this. She had to be somewhere else. It didn't mean she was dead. But Kol must have felt different, as he charged towards the entrance.

Close to his brother's steps, Niklaus followed him up the stairs to the door. The second he saw that the front door wasn't properly closed he knew something was off. Before he could hold him back, Kol had already pushed the door open. He didn't get very far. The chest of drawers that used to stand next to the door had fallen over and blocked their way. The whole hallway was smashed. Pieces of glass and furniture were spread across the long corridor, now only dimly lit by the few light sources that had survived the struggle.

Protectively, Nik tried to put his hand on Kol's arm, but he had already began to move the drawer to the side and stepped through the debris, marching towards the living room.

"Wait," Nik said, but Kol didn't listen and scanned the room for clues.

"Briony? Rebekah?"

By now Elijah and Finn had caught up as well.

"What happened here?" Elijah asked, clearly not expecting an answer.

"Where is everyone?" Kol asked.

"I'll check upstairs," Finn said, taking a few steps up the stairs.

There had been a fight for sure. But where was everybody? And especially, where was Rebekah? Niklaus couldn't imagine that she was in any danger. She was stronger than basically any other supernatural being they had ever met. And certainly not with Briony on her side, who he deemed the only capable witch he knew. The only explanation would be that they got into a fight with each other, but that seemed unlikely. Someone had attacked them. But who would be strong enough to actually harm them? Except…

The realization crept unto him with the force of an iron hammer.

Retreat.

His feet told him to run away as fast as he could.

"We need to get out," Niklaus said quickly.

Kol looked at him curiously, then brushed it off and continued his search.

"I mean it," Nik repeated and took hold of his arm again.

Elijah was standing close to the door. They only needed to get Finn who was now upstairs. They still had a chance to get away.

"What are you talking about?" Kol said irritated, shaking off his brother's grip.

"He's talking about me."

This voice. An ice cold shiver ran down Niklaus' spine. Niklaus twirled around to face the voice, while grabbing Kol's arm once again. This time Kol didn't resist.

Mikael. There he stood on in the frame of the living room. Niklaus couldn't even explain where he came from.

For a second they all watched him in complete shock. Mikael glanced at them each, even though Nik was sure that he looked at him the longest. His face didn't look particularly angry. But the eyes. They were full of disdain and hatred. Nik hated that face. And he hated how scared it made him.

"What do you want?" Kol asked, his voice unusually dry.

Mikael's face barely moved when he spoke. "I've had this conversation just a moment ago. And I don't like to repeat myself. In short, I want to end you. If you must know more, then ask your sister. We had a very interesting chat before."

"Where is she?" Elijah demanded.

Mikael considered him for a moment, then looked at the others. "If I were you I'd be less worried about her and more about what's about to happen to you."

Without taking his eyes of Mikael, Niklaus went through his possibilities. There was a window behind him and Kol. Across the hallway he could get to the kitchen. And the entrance door. He quickly glanced over. The entrance door was the best option. Elijah was still standing there, his eyes fixed on Mikael. They wouldn't have to split up. Good. And Finn was still upstairs. He hoped that he had figured out what happened by now and had escaped already. All his instincts said flight. But what about Rebekah? Maybe she had escaped? There was no sign of Flora or Briony either, dead or alive. He doubted Rebekah would have left if they were still here.

"Where are the others?" Kol asked determined.

Niklaus was surprised at Kol's courage. He certainly didn't have any in that moment.

"Rebekah was here a minute ago. You have just missed her," Mikael replied.

"And the others?" Kol repeated, less patient now.

Mikael considered him for a moment.

"You're talking of your witch friend I suppose. I'm not particularly interested in her. Although she is to blame for the spell, which makes her as tainted as you. And she should be punished for it. But I guess nobody will miss her when she's gone."

Kol took a menacing step towards his father, but Niklaus tightened his grip on him. That's what Mikael wanted. To make Kol angry so that he attacks him. An attack Kol would lose.

Kol's anger only encouraged Mikael. "What now? Are you giving up on her that easily? Maybe I should compel her stay with me then. She's easy on the eyes. I give you that."

Within a split second Nik knew what was going to happen. More out of instinct than anything else he jumped after his brother, who had pulled his arm out if his grip in order to attack. He pulled at Kol's body and threw him and himself onto the ground. He felt the wooden stake sear through the air, just at the spot where Kol had stood. Beneath him Kol was swearing, trying to break free. Nik let him get up. Kol was about to attack again, but Nik held him back.

With a heavy struggle, he pulled Kol away, pushing him into the adjacent room.

"We need to leave!" Nik shouted.

"No!" Kol said, irritated and angry.

They had to leave immediately. Mikael wanted them to attack like that, irrationally and without a plan. That's how he could kill them, and he had almost managed with Kol. There was no way they could beat him like that.

It was no use to persuade Kol to leave right now. He'd go back for Briony no matter what. But there was no time to argue.

Before Kol had a chance to break free again, Nik tightened his grip and smashed himself and Kol through the door that led to the garden.

"LET GO OFF ME!"

Without wasting time for recovery, Nik got onto his feet with a leap, and more carrying than pulling, he teared Kol with him away from the house.

He ran and ran, with a constant battle from Kol. It slowed them down immensely. Kol was biting and scratching him in an attempt to get free. But now more than ever, it was vital to not let go off him. If he let go off Kol, his brother would certainly run back into his death.

He was worried about the others. But there was nothing he could do for them right now. All he could do was hoping that they were okay.

"LET ME GO BACK!"

After a sprint that took him at least twenty minutes, Niklaus deemed it safe enough to slow down. They stopped in a dark garden of a dimly lit townhouse. He threw Kol away from him, a bit harder than anticipated, and Kol smashed against the garden fence. In pain he pulled himself up on his feet again. From the grumble, Nik wasn't sure if his brother was about to attack him or try to escape.

"Kol, stop it." Nik tried to sound as calm as possible.

He raised his hand in case Kol was about to run off again.

"Let's think about what we're doing. We need a plan."

Angrily Kol took some steps towards him. "We don't have time for that! We need to go back! Right now!"

"You know what Mikael is like! We don't have a chance against him if we run right into his lap!"

"We can't forsake the others and leave them behind, Nik!"

"I'm pretty sure, Elijah, Finn and Rebekah got away, too."

He already regretted his phrasing.

"Not who I was talking about," Kol said offended.

"Kol," Nik began, it was hard to say but he knew it was the truth, "we have to face reality. When we came back there was no one left alive in that house. And considering for the amount of time Flora and Briony had been alone with him, I don't think they made it."

It was a harsh truth but there was no way that either of them had a chance against him, unprepared, without knowing who he was. Flora was a lost case altogether, and he doubted that Briony had figured out so quickly who Mikael was that she managed to save herself when he was already inside the house.

"Don't say that!" Kol said. "And you're wrong. I know she's fine."

"How?" Nik asked.

"I just do," he replied.

Kol wasn't being very helpful.

Not far from them the thickest rustled . Nik grabbed Kol's arm, ready to run off if necessary. A second later Finn appeared, panting.

"Are you alright?" Nik asked, relieved to see him.

Finn nodded and walked up to them and sat down on a garden bench. He too seemed like he had just run for his life.

"Have you seen Elijah or Rebekah or the others?" Kol asked.

"No," Finn said.

After a pause he added: "I'm not sure they got away."

They needed a plan. They should look for Elijah. When they had left he had been close to the entrance door. That was good, Nik thought, because he most likely got away too. Or did he? Mikael didn't come after him and Kol. Maybe because he had gone after Elijah instead.

"Rebekah should be fine," Finn said. "She could have easily got away."

Niklaus nodded. But if she escaped, where was she?

"What I'm worried about is Flora," Finn continued. "Forgive me, but she's the one who needs the most of our help. She has the smallest chance against Mikael compared to the rest of us."

"Exactly!" Nik said. "Her chances are abysmal."

Niklaus tried hard to sound less insensitive.

"You have to admit it doesn't look good," he added carefully.

Kol gave him a nasty look.

He wanted them to understand that he didn't want either of them to be dead. Not at all. But any experience they had with Mikael told him that the only chance they had was escape. And if he got that close that they had got into a fight, Nik doubted that neither Briony nor Flora got away.

"Actually I think they have a better chance for survival than Elijah or Rebekah," Finn replied.

"How?" Nik asked.

"Primarily, it's us who he wants dead. And right now, they're much more useful as bait than anything else. He knows we'd come back for them."

"Then we obviously don't go back! It's a trap," Nik concluded.

"If we don't, he'll kill them," Kol said.

"Exactly," Finn added. "He hasn't given us a choice, really."

Niklaus didn't like this. He'd want to wait and hide. Maybe Elijah or Rebekah would turn up after all. Then they would be one person more against Mikael. Their odds could only improve.

Except of course they didn't. The longer they waited, the less likely anyone would survive in Mikael's hands. Finn was right. He hadn't given them a choice at all.

* * *

 _ **As always, I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think!**_

 _ **Wow, exactly a year ago I began to write this story! So much time, so many words!**_

 _ **Another important issue: I have almost caught up with 1925 in my past timeline, and I guess my hints that lots of stuff is going to happen then weren't very subtle. I don't want to drag it out for forever though, so I have been playing with the idea of interrupting the present day-part, and focus on the past for a few chapters so I can write everything 1925 in one bit. Please tell me if you don't like this idea at all (because you've only been reading the "present day" or just can't imagine a break from that). Else I'll probably interrupt the present day timeline after chapter 38.**_


	37. The Vault

**_Present Day_**

There was a system in the chaos that was Niklaus' head. He keep looking for a solution. If he did that and only that, he wouldn't have to feel pain or grief. That was the easy part. Although he'd like to run off in any possible direction to find a way to save Rebekah, he needed a system. There must be a way to get her back. The problem was he didn't know where he'd find the solution. So he'd approach the problem as if it was something he had lost. At first they searched the mansion, any notes, remnants that might help him. Then he expanded his search circle over the town, to any place they had ever been. If that wouldn't help he'd widen the circle more and more, until he covered the whole world. And even if he had to search on the bottom of the Atlantic, at least he had a plan.

Right now they were searching through Davina's apartment. If Elijah were here he'd tell him that this was a dead end for sure. Why would Davina have any knowledge that could save Rebekah? He had his arguments ready if Briony would ask the same questions. She didn't. In fact she hadn't disagreed with anything he suggested. Maybe she actually thought it was a good idea. Or maybe she felt pity for him. He hoped it wasn't the latter.

The curtain in Davina's bedroom was half drawn, hiding the gaping hole in the window glass. From time to time the wind blew the curtain open. It was about to rain.

The apartment looked abandoned. Nobody had been here in a while. But luckily, Davina had left all her things in the apartment. Many of her possessions were family heirlooms, old books, and some things she had stolen from Briony while she had been in the mansion. This wasn't even the most hopeless place they had been until now.

"Have you checked this pile yet?" he asked, without looking up.

No matter what her reply was going to be, he'd look through it again. He had to.

"Hey," he said, when no reply came.

He turned around.

Briony was asleep on Davina's bed. For a second he considered throwing the book at her that he was holding in his hands. It wasn't fair that she could escape into this comatose state where any kind of pain disappeared. He despised her for it. But that wasn't worth waking her up. If he woke her up he'd have to talk to her, and he didn't feel like talking to anyone ever again.

A vague feeling told him that a lot of time had already passed. Or had it? He looked outside the window. The sky was a dark blue. It was almost night. Or was it? Perhaps it was dark because of the rain. He couldn't tell. Seconds, hours, years, they all felt the same now.

A car engine outside came to a halt. It could be Elijah. If it was him and he had followed him here, did that mean he had good news? Maybe he and Freya had figured out a way to get Rebekah back? Or maybe Briony had been wrong all along and she was fine? Niklaus got up and looked outside the broken window. His heart made a leap when he indeed saw Davina first and then Elijah getting out of the car.

He tried to remind himself that it was very unlikely that they had good news. But he couldn't keep himself from feeling excited, as he rushed down the stairs.

"Elijah," he exclaimed, as he caught up with his brother at the front door.

Any excitement or hope vanished when he saw Elijah's face. Somehow he even looked worse since the last time he had seen him. His motions were heavy and dragging and it seemed he had trouble looking into his brother's eyes. He didn't look like he wanted to be here at all.

Why then was he here?

"What is it?" Nik asked.

"Niklaus, I…" Elijah began.

He trailed off and stared at the floor.

"You shouldn't have left," he said with a low voice.

Niklaus looked at him confused. He didn't understand and waited.

After a very long pause, Elijah said: "Marcel is dead."

"What?" Niklaus said.

Elijah looked at him dead serious. He turned to Davina. She had her arms crossed, sobbing quietly, while her eyes faced the ground.

No, that couldn't be. Things were not allowed to get worse while he had been trying so hard to fix them. He had been trying so hard. This is not how the world was supposed to work.

They had been sitting in silence in Davina's apartment for a long time. The only sound the roaring rain coming from outside. Niklaus had his head buried in his hands. He didn't want to see the others.

He couldn't even remember the last time he had talked to Marcel. He had treated him terribly. He hadn't cared about him at all. That something could happen to him would have never crossed his mind. Why didn't he? He thought he had been thinking of everything. That's what he kept telling himself. But somewhere along the way he must have lost that skill. Or did he ever have it? Perhaps they just had been very lucky their whole lives and that luck had finally come to an end. Might as well be that he had never contributed anything to their survival.

Everything was breaking apart so quickly and Niklaus didn't know how to stop it.

After a while he looked up again. Briony and Davina still sat on the bed, barely moving. Elijah was sunk in the armchair across from the stool he was sitting on. Had they given up?

They couldn't give up. They were not allowed to when he already felt this terrible. It must have been their lack of agency that brought Niklaus back to reality.

Find a solution, he told himself. Then he and everyone else in this room would feel better.

"So far we've found a solution for any problem we've ever had. And this will be the same," he said.

Nobody replied.

"We just have to keep looking," he added, more pressing.

Elijah looked up, annoyed.

"You're not doing anything useful, Niklaus!" Elijah exclaimed angrily. "This means nothing! Do you really think we find anything to resurrect dead vampires in a room of a sixteen year old girl?! You're keeping yourself busy, because you cannot face the truth on who is actually to blame here!"

"What do you mean?" Nik asked, scared of the answer.

Elijah rolled his eyes. "We wouldn't be in this mess if one of us would not keep staking our siblings, and keep making everything worse. If just once in your life you managed to deal with your problems like any other normal human being, our sister would not be dead right now! And this is not even the first time! If you hadn't sliced her throat open," he pointed to Briony, "Kol would be fine too! You're killing all of us! This is all on you, Niklaus!"

It felt like his brother had punched him in his throat. Nik had nothing to reply to that. He knew it was true.

"Elijah!" Briony said with a thin but reproachful voice.

Then the room had fallen completely silent.

Elijah looked like he was ready to fight, like he waited for anyone to disagree with him. There was so much anger inside him, Niklaus could see it, waiting to come to the surface. But nothing came.

Elijah glared at him coldly. His brother had never felt so distant.

Niklaus' mind was blank. The insult had frozen him terrified. He wanted to say something, anything to make that glare stop. He'd rather have his brother punch him. But there was nothing he could say, nothing that could make this right.

Then, without taking his eyes off his brother, Elijah walked over to the door with slow and calculated steps and opened it. A second later he was gone. Niklaus kept staring at the spot where his brother had disappeared, barely registering the rain dropping on the window and Davina's quiet sobs.

* * *

 ** _1895, Savannah, Georgia_**

It was against any sense of instinct that Niklaus had, but he, Kol and Finn had gone back to the house they had barely escaped from. It hadn't taken very long to find out that Mikael had left in the mean time. Even worse than before, the ground floor of the house was completely trashed. From the debris they couldn't conclude if Elijah had actually got into a fight with Mikael or escaped. The thought of the former gave Niklaus a stomach ache. They still had no idea where he was. But Elijah was smart, he told himself. He was certainly smart enough to avoid an attack on Mikael. Had he got away and found Rebekah somewhere along the way, and now they were looking for the rest themselves? The longer they didn't hear from Elijah or Rebekah the less likely that scenario was.

Waiting for Mikael would be unreasonable. They needed to find him before he could find them, or they had no chance from the start.

"I have a suspicion where he could be," Finn said.

He motioned them to come outside with him, then he nodded to a house further down the street, just before the road made a turn.

"Until a month or so the house over there had been abandoned. It looked rather shabby. But then somebody moved in. We could tell because there were builders around for a few weeks. But after they had left it still seemed empty. We have never seen anyone leaving or entering the house ever since. I always thought it's a bit fishy. I say it's our best bet."

With absolute precaution they approached the newly refurbished house. It looked common and inconspicuous. After they had drawn as close as they dared to be still safe, they listened. Niklaus focused on any sound or movement in the house. Nothing moved on the ground floor. The first floor was very quiet too. But then, a noise. He heard something. A heart beat. Someone breathing.

"The attic," he said.

"It's definitely her," Kol concluded, and got up.

Niklaus held him back.

"Plan," he reminded him.

With lots of defiance Kol moved back again.

Niklaus couldn't tell if anyone else in the house. But he was sure Mikael was there. Everything about this smelled like a trap.

"He'll be expecting us," Finn said who came to the same conclusion.

"From a strategic point of view it does make sense to get her out first. She'll be able to find the others or already knows where they are," Nik said hesitantly.

Kol nodded.

"You're right," Finn said. "Kol will get to her, while we distract Mikael."

Niklaus wanted to object but he couldn't think of any arguments for his case. Confronting Mikael was the last thing he wanted to do. And he'll be very likely to be killed first. But then, he didn't want anything to happen to Elijah, Rebekah, Kol or Finn either. Hell, he'd even feel bad sacrificing Briony for this.

No, he had to admit to his own dislike, that this was their safest bet.

"It will be fine," Finn said in a reassuring tone. "We'll distract him for a bit, and then get out. Simple as that."

If only it was that simple.

"Kol, listen," Nik said to his brother intently, "when you got her, run away as far as you can. And don't come back."

"Not until I got a bullet proof plan to save the rest of you. Got it."

"No, don-"

Kol interrupted him. "I'm not going to let you rot in there if something goes wrong. Forget it. But I'll make sure I'll have a plan that works."

There was no use in arguing about that now. He didn't want Kol to throw himself into danger again. Niklaus just had to make sure that everything worked out the first time.

He followed Finn around the house until they reached the front door.

"I suppose there is no use to have any hesitations now," Niklaus said regrettingly, braced himself for whatever was coming and kicked the front door open.

After the noise and the dust of the crashed door had settled, it was quiet again. Nobody had been waiting for them in the hallway. Niklaus and Finn made their way through the dark corridor. It looked surprisingly similar to Finn's house. But there was this smell of paint and wood in here. At the end of the corridor a door stood half open, throwing a thin golden light onto the ground. Whatever was behind it, Niklaus was sure, was a trap. But that was the point. Activating the trap so Kol had a chance to get in unnoticed.

With one slow but swift movement he pushed the door wide open.

In one corner sat Mikael in a big leather chair. The light that had been shining into the corridor came from a candle on a small stool next to him. He had been waiting for them. Niklaus tried not to twitch when he saw him.

"It took you long enough," Mikael said.

"Where's Rebekah?" Finn asked.

"You're about to join her," he replied without moving a muscle.

Mikael's eyes were fixed on Niklaus who didn't dare to move. Niklaus was bracing himself for an attack, his last hope that they'd avoid a fight vanishing.

The only thing Niklaus remembered for sure was Mikael getting up from his chair. What followed was too convoluted that Niklaus would ever manage to put it in order. Something had swept him off his feet and thrown him up to the ceiling. It had been such an unimaginable force he couldn't tell if someone had hit him or if it had been magic. It had hurt his chest, but that might as well been the thrust against the ceiling. The weak golden light from before was gone now and he had trouble seeing anything. Before he had reached the ground someone or something smashed against him. He kicked and punched anything that touched him continuously. He must have hit Finn a few times as well, but there was no way to tell who he was hitting.

Then the ground and the walls around them started to shake. He dearly hoped that it was Briony's doing. There was no time to look for the source of that power in the midst of the fight. Suddenly he felt a cold searing pain in his chest. For a second he had the terrifying thought that he was staked, but when he looked down at his chest it was still intact. The pain came from the inside. Whatever magic was at work, it certainly wasn't Briony's. The pain paralysed him and something swept him from his feet again. He had no strength to pull against it. The pain was numbing his senses which impaired his vision even more.

He crashed on the ground again, unable to get up. Something or someone pulled him at his shoulders. He tried to fight against it, but his muscles had given up. He was too weak.

Then, he fell. He couldn't explain it. Had he been thrown up in the air again? A second later he smashed onto the cold hard ground. That alone almost made him pass out. He tried to get up, but his arms gave in the second he put pressure on them.

This was it. He was sure this was his last moment on earth. He pressed his eyes together.

Nothing came.

"Nik," he heard Rebekah say, "are you okay?"

His head turned, and he slowly came back to his senses. Rebekah. Had they been saved?

It was darker than before. After his eyes adapted, he saw Rebekah hovering over him, concerned. Then he recognized Finn next to her. His face was bleeding and there were scrapes and scratch marks all over him. Nik assumed that he looked about the same.

They were at a cool, damp place. His eyes followed the high stone walls towering around them.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Some sort of vault I think. Underneath the house," Rebekah said.

Niklaus followed the walls around him. No door, no window. It seemed like a prison.

"How do we get out?" Finn asked.

Finn got up to his feet. From his wavering Nik could tell he was still shaken from the fight.

Rebekah pointed to the ceiling. There was a small iron sealed hatch, about 5 metres above them.

"That's the way you came in. It's the only way out. I have been checking every corner of this place for hours."

It shouldn't be too hard to break it open, Nik thought.

As soon as he thought about the practicalities of opening it, he realized how impossible it was. A simple strong kick would probably suffice, somewhat depending on what was on the other side. But the hatch was 5 metres above them. There was nothing up there to hold on to. They'd have to jump to even reach it. And in order to reach it with enough force to break it open, he'd have to go head first. And that would easily break his skull or his neck. And then he wouldn't be ready for whatever was awaiting him on the other side. The hatch was so simple, yet ingenious in its effectiveness. Mikael had thought this through. They were trapped.

"Why is he putting us in here? Why is he not killing us?" Finn asked confused.

"He told me," Rebekah said disgusted. "He's collecting us until we're all here. He knows we're stupid enough that we'd come back for each other in case one of us escapes."

Niklaus scanned the room.

"Is it just the three of us?" he asked.

Rebekah nodded. "I don't know what happened to the others."

"I'm sure it's a good sign," Finn said quickly.

Despite Rebekah's reassurance that she had already checked every possible means of escape, Niklaus and Finn scanned every corner and angle of the place again. After another few frustrating hours, Nik had to accept that there was indeed no way to get out. A thin light came from two small cracks above them. Nik had inspected them, trying to find any clues for escape. But all he could tell was that there were several metres of concrete wall behind it.

During all that time they never heard a sound from above them. Was Mikael there? Was he waiting for the others to show up and put them in here?

Huddled together they sat in a corner, leaning on one of the damp walls. Much time must have had already passed. A day maybe? The light from cracks did not give any indication of changing daylight.

Rebekah rested on his shoulder. He could tell she was terrified.

"We're going to be fine," Nik said.

Timidly he looked over to Finn, who sat on his other side.

"Yes, you're right," Finn said. "It's only a matter of time until that hatch opens again and we'll be out in no time. The waiting is the worst part."

He seemed worried, but something about his presence calmed Niklaus. It felt like Finn would know what to do when hatch opened again. He could trust his older brother.

Niklaus figured that Finn was trying to calm him and Rebekah down, but somehow it worked. All they needed to do now is wait.

Their wait for the hatch to open felt like an eternity. Nothing happened. If Mikael had caught Kol he would have brought him here as well. It probably meant he got away. And Elijah too. That meant they were safe. Yes, they were okay. They must be okay. Perhaps they were planning on how to get them out of here. Niklaus remembered how he told Kol to do the opposite, but now he hoped that Kol didn't follow his advice.

"The other day I had this weird feeling," Rebekah said. "I knew something bad was going to happen."

"How?" Nik asked.

"I just knew," Rebekah replied. "I can't explain it. I had never felt it before. But there was this thought I couldn't get rid off that something bad was going to happen and I would't be able to stop it. I tried to tell myself that it was nothing and brushed it off. But now we're here and in a kind of danger that we haven't been in for a very long time."

He could tell that this wasn't part of her imagination resulting from her fear. She was serious about it.

But he didn't know what to do with it.

He took her hand in his.

"After this is over, we should go somewhere else. Maybe a place warm," Nik suggested, trying to change the mood.

"I don't care how warm it would to be," Rebekah replied. "We can go to bloody Antarctica if you like. Anything as long as it's far away from here."

"It would be nice if you postpone your trip to Antarctica until you've helped cleaning up my house," Finn added.

Nik smiled. "Cleaning up and snow storms. The future does sound promising."

Suddenly the hatch above them opened.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! As always, let me know what you think!**_


	38. The Vault II

**_Present Day_**

Somehow Elijah had always known that if he was going to end up with just one sibling it was going to be Niklaus.

It was very unlikely that they'd manage to stop their deaths now. Why would they? It hadn't worked for anyone else. Part of him hoped that he was going to die first. Then Niklaus would feel even more pain.

The second the thought occurred to him, he regretted it. He didn't hate his brother. He didn't want him to suffer. But his brother made him so furious sometimes. And Elijah's life would be much less complicated without him. Another thought he immediately regretted.

Somehow he ended up at the West Riverside. He had no idea why he had walked here of all places. Too preoccupied with anything else, he simply walked, putting one foot in front of the other without a goal in mind. He must have walked around the whole night. In these early morning hours everything was quiet at the pier before the usual traffic of the day began moving.

The witch bar was very close-by. Undecidedly, Elijah walked over to it. It was still closed, the broken windows now barricaded with wood panels. It looked abolished and empty. How long ago and almost laughable their quarrels with the witches now seemed.

Leaving and running as far away as possible occurred his mind. But where to go? There was no Finn he could run to, something he used to do every time he was at the end of his wits because of something Niklaus had done. Elijah couldn't think of anyone else he wanted to run to.

In case they get through this he should look for more friends.

Before he knew it, he stood in front of the mansion again. He had a suspicion he'd end back here anyway, too tired to go somewhere else.

There were voices and movement in the house. He figured the others had returned to the mansion at one point and he was not mistaken.

He wasn't completely sure why he did it, but instead of going to the front door, he moved around the house. The hole where used to be the kitchen wall was still there. Something told him that they'll never fix that again. From the kitchen he heard noises. Someone was working in the kitchen. He stepped over the pieces of rubble until he reached a hole like entrance into the kitchen.

Freya was standing at the sink.

When she saw him she jerked.

"Elijah," she said surprised.

"Sorry," he replied, climbing over the rest of the rubble until he was inside.

"Were you doing the dishes?" he asked, when he saw the pile of cleaned plates.

"Someone had to. I cooked," she said, and nodded to the pans that were still standing on the stove.

"You cooked," he repeated in surprise, not expecting to find her doing something so mundane.

She gave a hesitant nod. "I hope I'm not crossing a line here. But while were here and some of us had to eat…"

"Where are the others?"

"Upstairs," she said.

He reminisced. Nothing in him spoke for a desire to go upstairs and face anyone else, especially not Niklaus. Maybe he should stay down here.

"Go up," Freya said. "He'll be happy to see you."

Elijah figured that someone had told her about their fight. He had no interest in talking to Niklaus, nor forgiving him for anything. But if he'd stay down here he had to talk to Freya about the fight and that sounded just as bad.

With great reluctance he made his way upstairs. He heard voices. Oddly enough, they came from his room.

He pushed the door open.

Never would he have expected to see the picture before him. There was Niklaus, Briony and Davina, all sitting on his bed, watching TV.

"You came back," Nik said and sat up, when he saw his brother.

He thought he saw a glimpse of a hopeful smile in Nik's face, but he Elijah didn't respond to it. Elijah didn't feel like replying at all. Instead he watched them how they all sat on his bed.

"Why are you in my room? And are you watching TV?"

It was such a bizarre picture. At their feet there were some empty plates.

"Freya made food for us," Briony said.

Niklaus sat up straight to face him.

"Briony had a good plan. Tell him," he told her, and gave her a nudge.

He made an effort to look optimistic, but Elijah could tell it was a farce.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm testing the bodies to figure out which body parts failed so maybe we can fix them. But takes about a day, so we decided to wait here. Rest our minds so to say."

"Huh," Elijah said.

The information did nothing for him. None of them seemed particularly excited about it either.

"I'll show you," Briony said when he gave no other reply, and climbed out of the bed.

While the others stayed back, he followed Briony down the stairs again and into the living room. His legs were about to give in when he saw the two bodies. He held on to the drawer next to him, while the picture of his dead sister was burying into his brain again. It was weird. He had seen his siblings' bodies many times before, but now this picture had got a completely new meaning. He heard Briony speaking, explaining something, but he barely listened.

"You are humouring him," Elijah said, interrupting her. "You can't possibly think that this does anything."

Briony shrugged. "Most likely it doesn't. But at least we all got a day of rest. God knows we all need it, and most of all, he needs it."

A strange annoyance rose in him. Not just with Briony but everyone in the house. How come Niklaus ended up with three witches in the house who all cared for him? They saw that what had happened was his fault, didn't they? Niklaus didn't deserve this at all.

"Why are you on his side?" Elijah asked her, suppressing his anger.

"I'm not," Briony said. "I blamed him for Kol's death, too. But have you seen his face when you said those things to him? He's already torturing himself enough. You can't tell me you care that little about him that it doesn't hurt you to see him like that."

The she added: "And it doesn't matter who's to blame. What's done is done."

A second later the door opened again and Niklaus and Davina appeared. Niklaus had trouble looking in Elijah's eyes, but seemingly decided to block out what had happened the last time they had seen each other. Instead he focused on Briony.

"You were right, all we needed was a day to clear our heads. Now we can think again," Niklaus said.

Davina nodded in agreement. Both Briony and Elijah exchanged a confused look. Freya appeared at the door who must have heard them gathering in the living room.

Niklaus continued. "Davina and I were talking. And we were going about the problem all wrong. We don't need to search for an immortality spell. We'll figure it out as we go along. After we get them back resurrected…"

"You're saying this like a resurrection is easy," Briony interrupted him.

"Come on, you got resurrected by some mediocre coven, who didn't even do it on purpose. Can't be that hard! Anyway, after we've figured that out, we can make something up. If there's no spell to our goal, we just create a new one."

Briony stared at him blankly. "You want me to wing it? That is your plan?"

"Yes, I believe you can do that," Nik nodded.

Elijah wondered where this new blind trust into Briony came from. It might have been desperation. But it was hard not to be taken over by Nik's enthusiasm.

"Even if…" Briony seemed to struggle with the idea. "I don't have access to that kind of power. Nobody has."

"I can help!" Davina said, and kneeled down beside her. "I have lots of powers!"

Briony was about to reply, but Nik interrupted her: "Yes, she does! Marcel spoke about it!"

"If power wasn't the problem, Briony," he tried to argue.

"What do we have to do?" Niklaus pressed. "In theory?"

"To think about the immortality spell would be useless now. I can't prolong anyone's life who doesn't have one."

"Then we bring them back first. Obviously," Davina pressed desperately, clinging on that idea.

"Yes!" Nik nodded. "Good."

Elijah didn't know on whose side he should be. He was still terribly angry with Niklaus. His gut told him to be against anything that his brother suggested, especially if it will most likely only bring them more sorrow. But it sounded so tempting.

"You can't actually consider that," Freya intervened.

"Freya, no," Nik broke her off.

Briony looked pleadingly to Elijah. He didn't reply. The hope inside him had already taken over.

She spoke very slowly: "If we had access to an unlimited source of power, if we somehow managed to control it enough that it wouldn't kill us, if we basically decided to show nature the middle finger, because we're playing with things that might annihilate the whole continent, then yes, the first thing we'd have to do is bringing them back."

Elijah could tell from both Niklaus' and Davina's eyes that this was good enough to be excited for.

"And after that, we'd need a bloody miracle to keep you alive long enough to find a solution for that immortality problem," Briony added, gazing forlorn into the distance.

"So are you going to do it, or what?" Nik asked.

* * *

 ** _1895, Savannah, Georgia_**

They listened to the hatch above them rattling. Someone was opening it, turning a lock. Niklaus, Rebekah and Finn stood up, getting ready for what was coming through the door. The hatch began to lift itself, and a small line of light came bursting in.

A second later the hatch snapped shut again with a loud crack. The loud bang made them jump back. An eery silence followed. Niklaus listened intently. For a second he thought he had heard Elijah. It sounded like he was in pain. Was he up there fighting Mikael? The walls were too thick to hear any voices, but he believed to hear some sign of a struggle.

Niklaus, Rebekah and Finn looked at each other. There was nothing they could do. Niklaus felt like a piece of meat ready to be eaten by whoever was opening that hatch.

Then the hatch opened again. There was no time to get ready this time when his least favourite person sailed down to them with one fast jump. Before Niklaus even realised that this could be the moment for an escape the hatch had locked again. Mikael had locked himself inside with them. Getting ready for an attack, the three siblings moved together.

There was a deep gaping wound in Mikael's chest. It smelled like burnt meat. He must have been on fire. But to Niklaus' contempt, Mikael was already healing.

As he got up to a standing position, Mikael spoke with a painful and angry voice. "There has been a change of plans. We won't wait for the rest of you. It is time to die. Right now."

Only now Niklaus noticed what he was holding in his left hand. The stake of the white oak tree.

"What have you done to Elijah?" Niklaus asked.

"Someone had to go first," Mikael said drily. Then he added with a sneer: "Now, who wants to go next?"

From his short and heavy breaths, Niklaus could tell he was not up this full speed yet. They might have a chance. If they attacked him right now, all at the same time, they might get away. Finn and Rebekah must have thought the same. Within a split second they had exchanged a look and charged at Mikael. Dumbstruck for a moment, Niklaus realised what was happening. Why was everyone suddenly braver than him?

Finn had thrown himself onto him while Rebekah was tearing at his arm, trying to get white oak stake out of his hand. With a swift movement Mikael threw Finn away from him, and Finn crashed onto the wall at the other side of the room with a loud bang that echoed through the vault. Now Niklaus too had charged at Mikael and it wasn't a moment too soon. Freed from the extra weight, Mikael had pushed Rebekah away and onto the ground who was now fatally close to the stake. With all the strength he could muster, Niklaus pushed him away, while pulling Rebekah towards him. They both fell onto the ground next to Mikael, and Niklaus immediately twisted around, expecting a new attack within the second. There was none.

It took Niklaus a moment to locate Mikael again. To his absolute terror, he was standing over Finn. Niklaus jumped up and hurried towards him, but it was too late. He wasn't even halfway through the room when Finn's body went up in flames.

"No," he said with a weak desolate voice as he had reached them, and could only see how Finn's body slowly turned into ashes. Niklaus' legs suddenly felt like dough.

He felt Rebekah pulling at his arm. For a second he had almost forgotten that he was still in imminent danger. He let her pull him away to the other side of the vault.

Mikael followed with slow calculated steps. "You can't run away from me, Rebekah. Not in here."

Niklaus didn't dare to look away. Mikael was waiting for them to make a mistake. Rebekah was clambering to her brother's arm, as they retrieved as much as they could, until they stood at the wall with their backs.

The wound in Mikael's chest from before had healed now. Not that this made much difference. What were they going to do?

They could attack again, Niklaus thought. He couldn't kill them both at the same time. But the thoughts of dying and losing Rebekah were equally terrifying.

An arrow pierced through Mikael again and the cut on his body where it hit him went up in flames. Niklaus looked for the source of the arrow, and saw that the hatch was open. He could tell the arrow was hurting Mikael, burning him. Angrily, he turned around while pulling out the arrow of his chest with a painful groan.

Then a second later, Elijah jumped out of the hatch, holding a crossbow.

"Get out!" he shouted, while reloading another the crossbow with another arrow.

It took Niklaus a moment to realise that he meant him and Rebekah. Rebekah was still focused on Finn.

"Go, Rebekah," Nik shouted.

He practically threw her across the room to get her closer to the hatch. From the corner of his eye, he saw her disappear into the hatch a second later.

He turned around to look for Elijah. He shouldn't have done that.

In the same second, a hard burning pain seared through his shoulder that threw him on the ground again. He tried to pull out the stake himself, but a second later Mikael had his hands around him.

Niklaus was sure he would not miss a second time. Before he could try to stake him again, an arrow flew right between Mikael's eyes. With one slow pendulum-like swing, Mikael fell to the side. Niklaus watched him fall over, still terrified.

"Go! Outside, Nik! Now!" Elijah said, pulling him up.

Niklaus didn't need to be told twice. He jumped up to the hatch, where Kol had already been waiting for him. Kol pulled him out at his shoulders. A second later Elijah appeared right after him.

"Close it! The hatch!" Elijah shouted frantically.

Kol snapped the door shut and got up. Only now Nik saw the big square shaped marble stone that lay next to him. Kol began pushing it onto the hatch. A moment later Elijah joined him. Niklaus watched them, kneeling next to them. The pain in his shoulder was numbing his senses. But he could feel it healing.

When they were done, Nik let himself fall on the ground and stared at the ceiling.

After a few seconds of rest, he looked around. Rebekah was sitting on the other side of the hatch, resting her head against the wall with closed eyes.

"Where's Briony? And Flora? Are they okay?"

Nik's heart gave a terrible pinch. He shouldn't be the one asking about Flora. That wasn't right. Poor Flora. She had no idea.

"They're fine. They're in safety," Kol said.

Part of him was relieved, but then there was that other thing…

His shoulder was almost healed, but Niklaus didn't feel any better. What had just happened? Kol was still looking down on the marble stone in the middle of them, considering what was beneath. Elijah descended to the floor next to him, panting.

"Where have you been?" Nik asked.

"Hiding," Elijah said. "When I came back to look for you, you were all gone. I found Flora instead. And then afterwards Kol and Briony. We assumed he had you by then."

Nik processed the information. He didn't need to ask what they had done afterwards. Kol had held his promise and they had come back with a bullet proof plan. Or at least almost bullet proof. It would have been if all of them had made it out alive. Nik couldn't believe it. Had they really just witnessed the end of their brother? Everything from the last few days felt so much like a nightmare.

"We can't stay here," Elijah said and got up again, pulling everyone from their thoughts. "We're not safe yet. Who knows how long this door will hold. We need to get as far away as possible."

For a moment nobody replied. Niklaus looked at his three siblings, each of them looking battered, slowly wrapping their heads around what happened. The three of them. He had only three siblings now. The realisation kicked in. No, it couldn't, he tried to tell himself. There was no time for grief right now. There was still danger. The grief had to wait until later.

"You're right," Niklaus eventually said and pulled himself up.

Then he pulled up Kol next to him who still had his hands on the marble stone.

Something that day had broken in him, in all of them. Finn was gone. Their life as five siblings was over. Until now, they had always succeeded. Niklaus had always thought that their will power and strength made them eternal. That somehow they will always be invincible. But the truth was, he knew that now, they never were.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments!**

 **I mentioned it a few chapters ago but now it's official: I'm going to focus on the past for the next few chapters, because I was always planning to write the 1925-part in one bit (i.e. several bits over a few chapters). I hope you'll like it! :-)**


	39. 1925 - Thursday

_**The following few chapters are focusing on the past (1925) only. I hope you'll like it because it's going to be good :-)**_

* * *

 **New Orleans in the summer months of 1925**

 _ **Thursday**_

A flow of people came out of the train doors. Nervously, Rebekah scanned the tracks. Flora was nowhere in sight. Rebekah would only believe that she truly was here when she saw her with her own eyes. It had taken a lot to persuade Flora to come back. Elijah had suggested to leave her go wherever she wanted. If she'd wanted to talk she'd come back on her own. Rebekah would have agreed with this if there was not one major flaw. Flora didn't have anyone else apart from them. If she'd run away from them she had no one. And for that reason alone, Rebekah decided it was their duty to at least reach out to her every once in a while, to let her know that they'd wait for her. It had taken almost a year to find her. They had tracked her down in a convent in France, not far from the place she had used to live in the 18th century. Rebekah had left a letter for her, confronting her seemed a bit too intrusive, to let her know that she could come back any time, as soon as she was ready. They hadn't heard from her in the next decades until Rebekah reached out to her another few times. And a few months ago, Flora finally had agreed to come back. Rebekah knew it must have been very hard for her to do. She had been blaming ever since for what had happened to Finn. And even though Rebekah kept reminding her in the letters that nobody blamed her for anything, it was a struggle she knew Flora would never let go. That's why Rebekah had wanted to pick her up alone at the train station. It would be a softer readjustment. And it would give them a chance to catch up without anyone else interrupting.

Her heart leapt when she saw Flora's curly hair appearing in the mass of people walking on the tracks. Somehow Rebekah had always imagined Flora would wear some dark plain rags in the convent. She was relieved to see that the convent hadn't taken away all her fashion sense.

"Flora," she made herself visible, waving at her, probably a bit too excited.

Flora saw her and moved towards her, relieved to see a familiar face. When they were face to face, Rebekah hugged her.

"You will like New Orleans," Rebekah said with what she hoped was an encouraging tone, as they walked back to the carriage that would take them home.

"Isn't it weird to be back here, where all those gruesome things happened?" Flora asked.

Rebekah shrugged. "It's different now. We made it to something better, a peaceful place. I have more memories of it as a home now."

On the road, Rebekah told Flora about what her brothers had been doing in the last thirty years. As always, Rebekah preferred to highlight the most embarrassing stories of her brothers first. Then she continued with the more informative. While Flora seemed entertained by her tales, her face grew more serious by the minute. And Rebekah had a feeling where this was coming from, and was not mistaken.

"I just feel so guilty," Flora began with tears in her eyes. "If I just told anyone about my meeting with Mikael, we could have gotten away. We would have been fine."

"It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault but Mikael's," Rebekah told her. "Let it rest, Flora."

Right now Rebekah didn't want to talk about Finn. She had trouble talking about him in general. She knew the topic would come up when Flora would arrive, but not yet. They hadn't even made it to the house yet.

"Do you even know why we wanted you to come back?" Rebekah asked and took Flora's hand in hers.

"You felt pity because I was in a convent?" Flora said, drily.

Rebekah smiled and shook her head. "Having this place, a home, is a constant. And I wanted you to be part of it. You'll see."

Soon after, the carriage arrived at the mansion. Rebekah watched how Flora observed it from the window. Rebekah had to admit that ever since all of them - she, Niklaus, Elijah, Kol, Briony and Marcel - lived here permanently, it somehow looked dirtier. There was too much going on for it to ever return to its clean prestigious look from earlier days. But she didn't mind.

As they got out of the carriage and walked to the door, they were greeted by Niklaus. Rebekah was almost a bit proud of her brother that he seemed so amicable. She had told him to be on his best behaviour when Flora arrived. And for once, he seemed to have actually listened. If everybody behaved like him, this could actually work out, she thought.

"Have you told her about the party yet?" Niklaus asked, after the usual greetings were done and they entered the house.

"The party?" Flora asked with reluctance.

"No party!" Rebekah said quickly. "A small gathering at most. Tomorrow."

She gave Niklaus a judgmental look, then turned to Flora again: "You finally being back was worth to be celebrated. And there were one or two new friends who we told about you and wanted to meet you. And it's nothing, basically."

* * *

In the evening they had gathered to welcome Flora. A large part of the discussion contained of Rebekah speaking about how great and peaceful New Orleans had been these days. Briony kept nodding and smiling in fear that Rebekah else ripped off her head. She and everyone else had already figured out that Rebekah hadn't told Flora how this peaceful living had been accomplished. More than one werewolf head had to roll until they were accepted in New Orleans. There had been an ancient pack in the city that had a particularly difficult time to accept that new vampires wanted to reside here. But most of them were dead now and few scattered into the bayou. But Flora didn't need to know that. Else she would have never returned to them. Even Niklaus had taken up to ignore anything that had happened in New Orleans up to this point and smiled politely at Flora. And if he could do it, Briony certainly didn't want to be the one to break that new found peace.

Briony noticed how Flora was oddly fixated on everything Elijah said. It reminded Briony of the time right after Finn's death before Flora had left for the convent. They had all caught up each other on what had happened in the hatch after they had been separated. Although devastated, Flora had seemed very impressed how Elijah had darted into the hatch to everybody's rescue with that crossbow. It surely sounded heroic. It had been her, Briony, who came up with the poisoned arrows in the first place, but nobody kept pointing out that part. Apparently that didn't seem so impressive compared to what Elijah had done. But she knew that if it hadn't been for her, there wouldn't have been a heroic crossbow to begin with.

Briony wondered if that fixation now was still a remnant of that. Perhaps it was the reason why Flora came back in the first place.

When everyone was still deep in conversation, Briony snuck out of the room. She needed rest. Rest was vital for the next few days. Flora's return happened to fall together with something Briony had been planning for a long time. At first, when Rebekah had told her that Flora would be back on this weekend, Briony had been wary. But now she that she had thought about it she had decided it was a good thing. Flora would approve of her plan, and as soon as Briony would tell her about it, she was sure, Flora would volunteer to go first. But all in good time. She couldn't tell anyone except Kol until everything was ready. Fortunately, nobody had noticed her busy witch behaviour. But she was still on edge all the time and worried that she was followed.

She took some steps into the hallway but heard a noise behind her. She turned around, trying not make an inconspicuous impression.

Niklaus pulled the door shut behind him.

"If Rebekah calls this a 'peaceful place' one more time…" Nik began.

Briony laughed and shook her head.

"She does boast about us being nice people a bit too much," Briony replied.

"You were going to sleep, weren't you?" He sounded disappointed.

She figured he had been following her to gossip or complain about Rebekah.

Briony shrugged. "You should really learn not to get irritated by human needs."

"Where would be the fun in that?" he replied with a smirk, and went back to the living room.

When she was sure nobody was following her anymore, she went upstairs and into her room. Then she pulled out her notebook from the bedside table. Her notes on the immortality issue had always been very vague. While she wanted to preserve the knowledge for the witches after her, she was worried that somebody was going to use that particular kind of information against her one day. It was also for that reason that her handwriting looked worse and more unreadable by each year.

 _Sunday, 8pm_ , she wrote on a new page.

That's everything she dared to put down at this moment. She'd write more after everything worked out.

It was strange. Nobody forced her to work on the immortality issue anymore. Everyone except Kol thought it was resolved. Even Niklaus left her alone. So why couldn't she let go of it?

She kept telling herself that she wanted to help them because they deserved it, and because she was a kind person who helped people. But that wasn't true. At least not all the time. At one point she had to admit to herself that she tried to prolong their lives for purely selfish reasons. She liked having them around her. And she had been with them for such a long time she had trouble remembering any kind of other life. And being alone after all this time was an unbearable thought.

The date written on the white page heightened her mood. It was so close. Maybe it had been the lack of pressure, but a while back the idea on how to fix everything suddenly had come to her. And this time it would work.

With her eyes still on her own writing a cold shiver ran down her spine. She had a feeling that somebody was behind her. Briony hesitated. Maybe she was just that paranoid. There cannot be people hiding behind her all the time.

"Hello," she heard a familiar voice behind her.

Briony twirled around in terror, while closing the book shut.

"Katherine," Briony said surprised.

"I'm back," she said, her face not giving away what she was thinking.

Briony was sure that Katherine waited for her reaction.

Briony smiled. "It's good to see you."

She walked over to her to hug her. She was about to ask her why Katherine still first showed up in secrecy to see her. But why wouldn't she? That's what she had always done. How else would Katherine know it was safe for her to come back?

"What's on Sunday?" Katherine asked.

"You came back," Briony said surprised, ignoring the question.

She was happy to see her. She always connected Katherine with her memories of that short decade they had spent in Italy, where for once they had lived with almost no quarrels at all.

Then Briony remembered what she had planned for the following days. That spell. She couldn't have Niklaus irritated at no costs. For the first time in her life she actually had the impression that he liked her, and that trust couldn't fade now. And Elijah. He'd fall back into his old patterns and start a fight with Niklaus over Katherine. Rebekah would be annoyed too, because Katherine threatened the peaceful image she had so tiresomely created for Flora.

No, Katherine couldn't be here. At least, not right now.

"You can't stay," Briony blurted out.

"What?" Katherine asked her confused.

"It's not safe. Trust me on this," Briony said.

Katherine raised an eyebrow.

Briony's mind rushed through all the excuses she could think of. She couldn't tell her what she was planning. Nobody was allowed to know. And the thing with Elijah she wouldn't understand.

"You have to do better than 'trust me'," Katherine said.

Briony hesitated.

Katherine took a few steps towards her. It felt menacing.

"You know," Katherine began, "I have seen you before when you talked to Niklaus. You're friends now. You have changed sides. I think you just don't want me here."

That again. Briony took a deep breath to hide her annoyance: "I have always been on your side. I have been lying my whole life because of you. And I still don't deserve your trust?"

Katherine blinked, but didn't move.

"Why do you want me to leave?" she eventually asked.

Briony could smell her suspicion.

"Because we both know how it ends every time you are with us. Stop bothering," Briony said and got up.

She knew she sounded rude, but that might do the trick to get Katherine to leave.

"That's not the reason," Katherine replied. "There's something you're not telling me."

Briony shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you."

Without saying anything else, Briony turned back to her book again.

She stared blankly at the cover of her book. Her mind rushed. She hated making impulsive decisions. Perhaps she was too strict with Katherine.

"Just give me a few days and…" she began but then stopped.

When she looked around Katherine was gone. Briony sighed. Something told her Katherine wasn't gone for good.

* * *

When Elijah had returned to his room in the early morning hours, he was not expecting to find her there. He had seen her the second he entered the room. Katherine was sitting in the sofa chair next to the window. Quickly, he closed the door behind him. It was more instinct than anything else, but he had always felt that Katherine's presence should always be known by as few people as possible. Still stuck to the door, he looked at her without saying anything. He didn't know how to feel about her being there. He was surprised, sure. And happy, deep inside under all the anger. It felt good to see her. But he was also annoyed. How was he supposed to feel about her when she showed up every few decades or centuries? What was she expecting from him? In the end he settled for angry.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

It sounded a bit too cross, he thought. But it was too late for adding anything else.

Katherine seemed to have expected a greeting like that and made an effort to sound friendly.

"I wanted to come back," she said.

When he didn't reply, she added: "I heard that things have calmed down and it seemed safe enough to return."

"Really," Elijah said with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't believe me," Katherine concluded.

Elijah hesitated. It wouldn't have needed much for him to shout at her, so he focused on the carpet instead.

Grinding his teeth he answered: "I don't know what makes now better than before. It would have been safe to come back 100 years ago after the spell with our mother was broken. I guess it was pretty safe after what had happened to Finn - also that would have been a nice moment to come back and check how I was doing by the way. But sure, now is obviously the best time for a reunion."

He was aware his words were dripping with sarcasm.

Katherine's eye flickered with anger, but she retained herself and accepted the scolding. Despite his anger, he was impressed by her resilience.

"It's not that I didn't want to come back. But you know I have to be precautious when you're always stuck to your siblings," she said, trying to sound pragmatic.

"Why though?" he pressed again.

Katherine shrugged. "I missed you."

"Are you sure about that? You didn't even say goodbye the last time!"

"That wasn't my choice. I didn't want-" Katherine began, then broke off angrily.

"Even if…" Elijah began, "you'll leave again because of something. You always left. Again and again. And you never wanted to be found. We tried to look for you, you know."

"Wait, you're blaming me for running away?" Katherine said shocked.

"No, of course not. But you obviously didn't want to be found. We looked for you all the time."

"Of course! I didn't want to be found by your brother!" she said, crossing her arms.

Elijah shook his head. "You didn't want to be found by anyone. Not even by me. Do you have any idea how often I pestered Briony to look for you without him knowing? She looked for you so many times more and you were basically invisible."

"No, she didn't!" she exclaimed loudly.

Elijah didn't know why she was disagreeing with him on that. "Yes, she did!"

The former guard around her was down now, and she exclaimed angrily: "That's what she told you, Elijah! She has never looked for me. She has been pretending to search for me the whole time!"

"Come again?" Elijah asked warily.

Katherine continued with a calmer voice: "I always thought she was doing it because she wanted to help me. I should have known better. Nobody does anything out of the goodness of their heart."

"But why would she do that?" Elijah still struggled to believe that Briony would be capable of such a thing.

"To torture you brother, I guess. At least that's what I always believed. It's a sensible reason enough. But now I think she only wants to keep me away from you."

Elijah hesitated. Then he sat down at the corner of the bed. There was no reason to believe that Katherine would be lying about this. It wouldn't make any sense. She wasn't the type to make up such a weird lie.

"But when did this start?" Elijah asked.

Katherine thought about it a moment. "1706 or 1707 maybe. I was in Leiden and she showed up and told me to run away because Niklaus was close."

Elijah couldn't believe what he was hearing. He remembered their trip to Leiden. That was shortly after they had taken Briony in. They thought they had found Katherine. Elijah had been planning to find her on his own when Niklaus wasn't paying attention, but neither of them had ever made any progress after they had arrived in Leiden.

If what Katherine told him was true, Briony had lied to them from the beginning.

Katherine told him about the other encounters she had with Briony. He wanted to know everything, every detail of their encounters. The longer Katherine spoke, the clearer it was she wasn't lying. Too many details were exact. So many moments where they had been close to Katherine and lost her again unexpectedly. But now it all made sense. And it explained why they had found Katherine so easily in Naples, when they had actually needed her for the spell with Esther. It was the only time Briony actually tried to find her. They had been completely blind.

"Why did you never tell me this before?" Elijah asked. "When we were in Italy?"

Katherine shrugged. "Loyalty I guess. She has been saving my life after all. But I'm not so sure about that anymore. I think now she just wants to get rid off me."

Lost in thoughts, Elijah sank deeper into the bed. He didn't know what to do with this information. He wasn't angry at Briony because she refused to help Niklaus to kill someone. In fact, he had always been surprised that she was so willing to help Niklaus with that. But she hadn't needed to constantly lie to him and pretend to be his friend. Not even Niklaus deserved that. But what Elijah bothered most was that he had been treated the same. Briony must have seen that Elijah didn't want to hurt Katherine. Why didn't she help him?

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading and let me know what you think in the comments!**_


	40. 1925 - Friday

_**Friday**_

For a while, Kol had been struggling with the fact that he knew things about his siblings' lives that they didn't. It felt like he was playing with their lives unnecessarily. But he was doing it for their own well-being, he thought. He had never thought that among all his siblings it would come to him to protect them, but that was what he had to do. One day he would tell them what he had done. But until then, they'd believe he was the fun-loving younger brother, who could not quite look out for himself. He didn't care what they thought about him. And that was the reason why he certainly wasn't planning on showing up to that party on time.

Kol thought that everybody had already left the mansion to go to the summer house when he heard voices arguing downstairs. Marcel and Flora were at the foot of the stairs, discussing loudly. Kol couldn't remember that he had ever seen those two fight.

"Kol, good, you're here. Tell her she can't leave right now!" Marcel said agitated.

"What's going on?" Kol asked.

"I'll tell you what's going on," Flora said, letting her suitcase drop onto the stone floor with a loud bang. "One of the witches in town told me about the werewolf massacre that happened here a few months ago!"

"Oh," Kol said.

Flora looked at him in disbelief. "You're not even denying it?"

Kol turned to Marcel. "Is that an option?"

Marcel sighed. "I was denying it."

Smart. He should have been denying it too, Kol thought.

"You said you have changed!" Flora looked reproachfully from one to the other.

Marcel and Kol exchanged a helpless look.

Flora rolled her eyes and said: "I'm leaving!"

"You can't! The party! Rebekah organised it just for you! You gotta stay!" Kol said.

Flora gave a superficial laugh. "I don't care about that party."

Kol knew he was the wrong person to convince Flora to stay. She didn't care enough about him, and he didn't know the right things to say. And Marcel wasn't much better. As if that made somebody else appear, Kol stared at the door. But nobody could help them with this. Everybody else was already at the party in the summer house.

"Don't you want at least talk to Rebekah before you leave?" he said, trying to pull her suitcase away.

"Tell Rebekah I said goodbye," Flora said without looking at him, and snatched the suitcase out of his hands.

"No, you can't leave!" Kol said and pulled the suitcase away from her. "Because…"

He was thinking of anything to say. He had a stupid but useful idea. Briony might not agree on this but she would understand.

"There's something Briony and I are doing that might interest you," Kol said.

"I'm not interested in what you two are doing!" Flora said with a disgusted face.

"What? No!" Kol replied, aghast, "not what I meant at all!"

"It's about a spell that might interest you," he said with a more serious voice.

"I don't care about more spells, Kol," Flora said, trying to take the suitcase away from him.

"This one will."

Flora considered him for a moment. Good. Her curiosity might keep her here.

"What is this about?" Marcel asked.

"Doesn't concern you," Kol said, ignoring him.

Only now Kol realized that the hardest part about this was going to make sure that Marcel wouldn't learn about the spell.

As soon as they arrived at the summer house, he ushered Flora towards the study room. Most party guests were in the garden. Kol figured that this was going to be the centre of the party. That was good. That meant they could speak inside the house without disturbances. On his way he saw Briony standing close to the terrace door. He grabbed her by the arm and pushed her in front of him towards Flora.

"Go, make yourself somewhere else useful!" he shouted at Marcel, who tried to follow.

"What is it, Kol? Why are you pushing me?" Briony said impatiently.

"I told her," he said the second he closed the door behind them.

"Told her what?" Briony asked.

"That there's going to be a spell. About how we're trying to turn us into humans," Kol said, hoping that the noise of the party was loud enough for them to speak freely.

"You're doing what?!" Flora said surprised.

"You told her?" Briony asked Kol seriously.

"I had to. Else she would have left," Kol said.

He told Briony what had happened at the mansion. Flora kept interrupting them with her shock about these news. With some hesitation Briony explained Flora what they were trying to do.

The longer they talked, the quieter Flora became. But with Flora that was a good sign. Quiet Flora was usually a happy Flora. She was listening. Her anger from before was gone. Instead she focused on the words and the prospects they could give.

"So, what do you think of that plan?" Kol asked eventually.

Flora first looked at him, then at Briony.

"We would be humans again? With a human life span? Ageing and all?" she asked.

"Depends," Briony said.

"On what?"

"If that's what you want. Esther comes from a line of powerful witches. It wouldn't be very hard to stop ageing process. That's what I'm doing to myself, basically."

Flora let the information sink in. After a while she said: "It does sound convincing. And everybody could decide themselves if they wanted to age or don't?"

Briony nodded. "Yes. It's up to you really."

"The only difficulty is that I'd have to do each of you on your own. Else the spell gets too difficult," she added.

"You mean you can only turn one person after the other?" Flora asked.

Briony nodded. "Yes, it might take some time."

"I see," Flora replied, her eyebrows curling.

"But don't worry. That should not be a disadvantage for you. I thought you might actually wanna go first," Briony said.

Flora's face twitched to a short smile, but then turned more thoughtful again.

"That's not what I was worried about. But you're forgetting something," she said.

"What?" Kol asked.

"You're presuming that everyone will agree to this. There's at least one or two people in your family who appreciated their super strengths."

Kol and Briony exchanged a look. She meant Niklaus. And Kol could see that his brother wouldn't go willingly.

"I don't think you'll give him enough credit," Briony said. "Eventually, he'll see that he profits from it."

"That might be. But that will take a while. And I'm pretty sure the second he figures what you're trying to do, he'll do everything to stop it," Flora replied.

Kol had to agree. It wasn't going to be easy with Niklaus. They could force him, but that would be a big struggle. Except…

"Then we know what we'll have to do," Kol said convinced.

"What?" Briony asked.

"There's only one way where he can't mess it up. He has to go first."

After the mishap with Flora had been averted, Kol felt pretty good about himself. He almost wished he could tell Rebekah how he had convinced Flora to stay. It would give him some bonus points after not helping to get the party ready.

The good feeling disappeared the second he left the study room. In the hallway stood Marcel, leaning at the door way with crossed arms. Kol had almost forgotten about him. For a second, Kol feared that Marcel had heard everything. But if he did, he wouldn't stand there so calmly, Kol thought.

Kol decided to ignore him and tried to get past him.

"You're behaving suspiciously," Marcel said, when they were next to each other.

Kol stopped. He wasn't in the mood for games.

"Have you been eavesdropping?" Kol asked.

"What does Nik have to go first for?" Marcel asked.

Kol hesitated. But he was pretty sure that was all Marcel had heard.

"Okay, let's get this one thing straight. It's none of your business what I talk about with Briony. Just go to the party now and stop asking questions. Can you do that?"

"Depends. If you want me to go to Niklaus right now and tell him about this, sure."

Kol rolled his eyes. He didn't need another obstacle and be blackmailed by Marcel.

He wasn't proud of what he did next, but this was an urgent matter and it was the only thing he could think of.

"Has Nik ever told you about what happened to Elise, that girl you turned into a vampire and later disappeared?" Kol asked.

"What are you talking about? How is this-" Marcel began confused but then realized what Kol was doing. "You're trying to change the topic."

"It was odd that she disappeared, very unlike her, wasn't it?"

"Stop it," Marcel said annoyed. "Just tell me what you're doing."

"I'll tell you what happened. Niklaus killed her."

"I don't want to hear-" he began. "Wait, what?"

Marcel had caught on at last. Kol was aware that spilling his brother's secrets was a very low move, but it would keep Marcel occupied for a while. They couldn't have him snooping around in the next few days.

"Yup, she never left New Orleans."

"But why would he do that?" he asked.

Kol shrugged. "It's Nik. I think he was jealous and was worried that you were going to leave with her. He can be very possessive. You must have noticed that he doesn't have many friends besides you."

Marcel looked at him in terror. "And that's why he just…"

* * *

A good amount of people had shown up for the party. With crossed arms, Rebekah watched over the meadow behind the house that was filled with people. Someone had started a bonfire in the middle, which threw a golden light over the dark trees surrounding them. It should have been a great night. But there were many small things that bugged Rebekah. She had barely seen Flora ever since she arrived at the party half an hour ago. Right after her arrival she had disappeared into the house with Briony. Neither Elijah nor Kol had been there for the setting up. So much for being helpful brothers. In fact, she hadn't seen Elijah since the night before. Niklaus was the only one who was somewhat helpful when preparing for the party, but she could tell he couldn't care less about the party itself. Everybody in the family seemed too preoccupied with something else that did not concern Rebekah. It made her feel excluded. Rebekah tried to not let herself pull down by these thoughts. She should be happy now.

And most likely, she was just imagining the exclusion she was feeling. Most likely, her brothers were just their usual annoying selfs.

On the other side of the bonfire, Rebekah watched Kol and Marcel arguing about something. It was too noisy to hear what they were talking about, so she moved closer.

"What's going on?" she asked when she caught up with them.

"Nevermind," Kol said, obviously annoyed and walked away from them.

Confused, Rebekah turned to Marcel instead. She looked at him questioningly.

Marcel's face was a mixture of surprise and building up anger. Then he looked at her somewhat forlorn. "Your brothers are jerks. I want to hurt them."

"Get in line," Rebekah said.

On the other side of the bonfire, Flora stepped down the stairs from the house, walking towards to the crowd. Rebekah waved at her. Although Flora saw her and responded to the wave, Rebekah could tell that Flora wasn't looking for her. Still, there were things Rebekah needed to know, so she walked over to Flora. She caught Flora on her hand before she could pass by.

"Why were you hiding with Briony and Kol in that room? There's people who want to meet you," Rebekah said, pulling Flora into her direction.

Flora still gazed across the bonfire, looking for somebody.

"What have you been talking about?" Rebekah asked.

"Oh, nothing," Flora said.

Rebekah bit her lip. It took a day and Flora was already involved in secrets that Rebekah wasn't allowed to know about.

"I've been looking for Elijah. Have you seen him? Is he not here yet?" Flora asked.

Rebekah shook her head. Annoyed that everyone was having something better to do than talk to her, she crossed her arms again and glanced over the meadow plastered with party guests. But none of her brothers were there. Why was everyone hiding from her?

She was pretty sure Elijah wasn't even at the party. Where was he?

"Have you seen Nik?" Rebekah asked, before Flora could walk away.

"I saw him inside," Flora said, not really paying attention and glancing over the meadow herself.

Rebekah headed inside. At least she could count on her favourite brother. Usually she didn't like to pick favourites, but today was different. It was easy to pick a favourite, when Kol was meddling Flora into secrets that Rebekah wasn't allowed to know about and starting fights with Marcel, and Elijah didn't even bother to show up for the party they had planned so tentatively.

She found him in the kitchen, but the second she saw him her heart sunk. Briony was there too and they were laughing about something. When they saw her, they stopped. Rebekah took a deep breath. The next time a discussion turned to awkward silence because she entered the room, even though there was absolutely no reason for that to happen, she'd break everyone's necks. Mutely, she walked up to them.

"What's going on?" Nik asked, smiling at her.

"Nothing," Rebekah replied, trying to sound casual.

She leaned at the kitchen counter next to Niklaus, and watched them. They looked at her expectantly. Whatever conversation they had before was dead.

"What have you and Flora and Kol been talking about?" she asked Briony.

"When?" Briony asked.

"Before, when you were in the study room," Rebekah said.

Briony shrugged. "Just catching up. Nothing in particular."

Rebekah bit her lip again and kept looking at Briony, as if she could break her mind with that. She couldn't sire her to tell the truth. She could try, sure, but she'd piss off Briony, and most likely Niklaus who was standing right next to them. Briony raised an eyebrow, then she and Niklaus exchanged a look. That did not make it better.

"What's going on?" Nik asked again.

It sounded belittling and it just made her angrier. With a grumble she got up and marched out of the kitchen without paying either of them any attention anymore. The fact that Nik didn't follow her and stayed back with Briony was the worst part.

* * *

There was no time to contemplate on Rebekah's odd behaviour when suddenly Elijah appeared from the other end of the corridor. He watched Rebekah leave into the garden, then entered the kitchen. He seemed to be in a bad mood as well. Niklaus sighed. He felt a general annoyance with his siblings. They wanted to have a party, not him, and now everyone was behaving on their grumpiest behaviour. And for some reason they always had to bring their problems to him.

"Were have you been since yesterday?" Niklaus asked.

"Long story," Elijah said. "Had a long talk with someone."

His eyes were oddly fixed on Briony.

"Oh yeah?" she said.

Niklaus could tell his brother's weird stare made her wary. He had no idea what Elijah's problem was. In any case, he didn't feel like starting a stupid fight at this party now. What was everyone's deal tonight? All they had been doing was standing in the kitchen. Who could be offended by that?

Elijah didn't reply to Briony's comment and stood in the entrance, brooding, silently watching her. She and Niklaus exchanged a look again. It wasn't just him then who noticed how strangely everybody was behaving. He signalled her to leave. Whatever was going on, he wouldn't get it out of Elijah with her being here. And the way Elijah was behaving made him think that he wouldn't get around to hear it in any case.

"I'll go back to the garden then," she said.

"Talk to you later," Briony said to Niklaus, and got up.

She passed Elijah in the doorframe who made very little effort to let her through.

"You're sure a joy to be around today," Niklaus said with an eye roll, after had Briony had left.

Elijah didn't reply.

After another few moments of loaded silence, Niklaus gave in. "Okay, do you need to talk about whatever makes you so angry, or do you just wanna stand here broodingly?"

"You don't need to get condescending, Niklaus," Elijah said.

"Maybe I do. In case you didn't notice, you're behaving pretty rudely," nodding to the door through which Briony had left.

Elijah stared angrily at his feet. "Maybe she deserves it."

Today was the last day he wanted to be caught up in whatever Elijah was angry about. He should walk away right now and let Elijah stand in the kitchen, being angry at the world.

But maybe for once, he should be the good brother with empathy.

"Why, what did she do?" Niklaus asked.

Elijah hesitated and stared at the wall beside Niklaus.

"Okay, you have started this. Now tell me," Niklaus demanded impatiently.

There seemed to be a struggle in Elijah. He was hesitating. This behaviour made Niklaus believe that maybe there might be something wrong after all.

"What is it?" he asked again.

Elijah stared at the ground, struggling.

"Alright," Elijah said decisively.

He closed the kitchen door behind him. "What I'm going to tell you will upset you."

Niklaus straightened up. He didn't like where this was going.

"It's about Briony. She has not exactly told the truth about what she does," Elijah said.

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever she said she'd been looking for Katherine, she didn't actually try."

"What?"

Elijah repeated with slow but determined words: "She has never helped you in finding Katherine."

Niklaus tried to understand what he was getting at. Why was Elijah bringing this up now? This has been so long ago. He thought about the many times they had been searching for Katherine. How he had watched Briony looking for her and how they had got so close to finding her many times. Why was Elijah denying this?

"No, that doesn't make any sense. I was there many times. She had been searching for her," Nik replied confused.

"She tipped Katherine off every time we were close. This is the truth. She has never helped you."

Elijah told him about what Katherine had told her. At first, Niklaus rejected everything that he said because it came from Katherine. He had absolutely no reason to trust her. But then Elijah told him more and more details about their search. Things that had never quite added up. Now that he thought about it, it had always been oddly convenient for Katherine that whenever she scarcely got away from them, it took Briony at least another year to find her again.

"She has lied to you, Nik. She has lied to all of us ever since we took her in."

The truth slowly sank in. He had been lied to. But how could this have been the same person who had just stood in this kitchen with him? Hadn't they been friends? Niklaus felt terribly betrayed.

He didn't want to listen to Elijah anymore. Without replying to anything that Elijah had said, he absent-mindedly walked out of the kitchen into the dimly lit corridor. He was so angry. He had the strong urge to break one particular person's neck. He slowly made his way towards the garden. Then he noticed that Elijah hadn't followed him. Niklaus stopped. Elijah must have known what that information would do to his brother. Did that mean Elijah was alright with whatever Niklaus was going to do, even if that meant killing her?

Because Niklaus knew what he had to do.

* * *

 _ **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because I enjoyed writing it! (I love it when everybody is in a bad mood^^). Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.**_


	41. 1925 - Friday II

_**Okay it obviously has been a while since I updated this! Sorry for that! I had few busy months, but now I'm dead set on making more updates again. It's kinda funny that I stopped right here, because I wrote most of this chapter back in June and it's actually one of my favourites. If you don't recall what happened before, maybe read chap. 39 &40 again because 39-43 are like one story in itself. Thanks for your patience! :-)**_

* * *

 _ **Friday II**_

He shouldn't eavesdrop at his brothers' conversations, but this time Kol was glad he did. With fast steps he rushed outside, searching through the crowd around the bonfire.

He saw Briony on the meadow close to the fire with some other people. When she saw him she waved at him. He went over to her and pulled her away by her hand. From her lack of resistance she must have understood that something was wrong. He led away from the garden onto a small path leading towards the woods.

"What is going on?" she said, when they were away from the crowd.

"Big problem. Nik knows about Katherine."

"He knows she's here?" she asked concerned.

He shook his head. "He knows everything, Briony. He knows that you have helped her escape ever since we met."

Her hand clenched in his. He could hear her heart beat getting faster.

"Should we leave?" he asked hesitantly.

The thing with Katherine had been so long ago. His brother was petty, sure, but would he still be angry about that? Deep inside him, Kol knew the answer was a definite yes. Although he must have almost forgotten about it, it wasn't a small thing for Niklaus. They had lied to him from the beginning. Everything Niklaus knew about Briony was built upon that lie. They had been getting along great recently, but Kol doubted that would be enough to make up for everything that had happened before.

They had to leave right now.

Briony hadn't had a chance to reply. A second later the person he wanted to see the least in this world turned up on the small path. Niklaus. He seemed beaten and tired, but his face was determined. Slowly he walked up to them. If any moment in his life, Kol would have been fine if Briony did her old trick again that'd send Niklaus flying over the meadow. But she didn't. She stood there frozen, waiting for Niklaus to catch up with them. He couldn't tell if she was frozen from fear, or if she was giving his brother the benefit of the doubt. Kol deeply hoped it wasn't the latter.

It felt like the time stood still. He and Briony were rooted at the spot while his brother moved ever closer, as if this was supposed to happen. As if all of them had been waiting for this moment, expecting it. Maybe Kol had been expecting it. Had he ever thought he'd get away with this? The truth was he had never thought about it. The thought had been too terrifying.

Niklaus didn't take his eyes off Briony for a second. Kol couldn't read his face. It was somehow distorted and funny. Was he angry?

Briony's heart beat was racing. Her nails were buried inside his hand. They had waited too long to do anything now. Running away was useless. Niklaus was faster and stronger than either of them.

Niklaus stopped in front of them, his still focused on Briony. He looked at her reproachfully, as if he was waiting for her to speak. But for once, Briony was smart enough not to give him that satisfaction. An icy silence was between the three, and not even Kol dared to break it.

After a what felt like an eternity, Niklaus took another step so small that it was almost unattainable. This was it. Kol was ready to embrace whatever was coming towards them.

"Isn't it…" Niklaus began slowly. His voice was surprisingly shaky. After a pause he continued, his voice changed. "Isn't it past bedtime for human witches like yourself?"

It sounded like he was teasing her. Kol stared at his brother in confusion. Was he actually smiling a little? And not the kind of smile he had when he felt superior. It was a weak but friendly smile. Briony too seemed taken aback by the question.

"I didn't know you where the human bedtime police," she said drily.

"I have many occupations," he replied in the same manner.

Briony broke into a weak smile as well.

"Common," Niklaus said, and softly pushed her back towards the party, "let's get a drink."

"Okay," she said, somewhat confused, and followed.

Niklaus nodded to his brother. "Are you coming?"

"Sure," Kol said, still not sure what to believe, and meekly followed as well.

As they walked back, Briony said: "Have you seen that guy who fell into punch bowl before?"

Walking a few steps behind, Kol couldn't believe she was actually trying to make small talk right now. He was impressed how casual it sounded.

"Yeah," Niklaus said with laugh.

Kol only gaped at them from behind, now even more impressed that this attempt at small talk actually worked. They talked more as they walked through the crowds towards the table where somebody had stationed a large amount of bottles and glasses. Even though it still sounded forced, Kol could tell they both made an effort to be nice.

Trying not to raise any suspicion by being skeptical, Kol inspected the content of his glass while thinking about what just happened. Niklaus knew the truth about Briony. And he knew that she and Kol knew. Briony was scared to no ends when Niklaus walked up to them, and there was no way that Niklaus didn't notice that. Everything had been built up for a fight, but it didn't happen. Why though? There was no reason for Niklaus to pretend that nothing happened. Kol couldn't believe that Niklaus was planning something cruel while playing nice. That wasn't his style. At least not to this extent. He might be cruel if he wanted to but would never be able to hide that kind of anger before Kol. And there was no flicker of anger in Niklaus' eyes anymore. Fear maybe, or confusion, but not anger.

The only explanation Kol could think of was that Niklaus was actually forgiving her.

That was a new experience.

Kol didn't wanna jinx it and tried his best to be his most careless self and joined their conversation occasionally.

As the night went on, Briony loosened up as well. It seemed she too began to accept this reconciliation.

Eventually, everybody's fear had disappeared completely. But the party didn't feel like before they had the confrontation with Niklaus. Somehow it felt better.

It seemed so obvious now, but Kol had never expected this. The truth brought them closer together. Although Niklaus and Briony had gotten along okay, there had always been something keeping them apart. But this barrier had disappeared. And Kol thought that there had never been a moment in their lives where he loved his brother more than right now.

For a while Kol watched two guys who had a brawl next to the fire. He always enjoyed human fights with their weak punches. Then he saw how someone brought out a new heavy bowl of punch from the kitchen. Afraid that the same thing would happen as with the old bowl, he decided to help out and carried it to the drinks table. He returned a bit later and found Briony alone on the veranda, watching the musicians thoughtfully. He walked up to her, but she kept her eyes on the crowd.

After a pause she said: "If you could stop time, right this second… wouldn't we have everything we want right now? Everything's good. Isn't it?"

Kol had to admit he felt the same. Everything was there. He felt relief, love, happiness, and he even appreciated his more annoying brothers this night. Ironically, stopping time was what they had been attempting for centuries. But now that it had led to this moment, he was glad they never managed to do so.

But these thoughts pulled him back to reality. There was still that other thing they wanted to this weekend. Something that had much to do with their survival. Briony must have had the same train of thoughts.

"Don't you think we can tell Rebekah?" she asked.

Kol had noticed that Rebekah was terribly annoyed with both of them. She had noticed that they had been having a secret. But the thoughts of what happened just before were still fresh and present in his mind. For a second he had truly believed that his brother would rip off Briony's head right in front of him. The thought alone gave him a shiver.

They needed to be more careful now. It would be better if nobody knew. But if Rebekah told anyone she had suspicions, especially if she only knew half the truth, she could make everything even worse. Kol didn't like it at all, but maybe it was better if Rebekah knew.

He told as much to Briony. Her eyes lit up. This was the answer she wanted to hear. Although he was sure she mainly wanted to tell Rebekah because of bad conscience.

* * *

Rebekah was dead set on having fun that night. Even if everybody in her family had let her down. Even though Elijah had shown up in the meantime she didn't feel like talking to him. Sulking, he stood on the veranda without talking to anybody. And if she went over to him, he'd only pull her mood down again. Kol and Briony had been fixated on each other and didn't pay her any attention, but that was nothing new. Instead, she joined a group of people that had gathered around the piano that someone had pulled outside. Most of the guests were people she or her brothers had met in town. And even though they were laughing and dancing together now they felt like strangers. Right now, that was a good thing. None of them knew about her worries. Someone tried to play along with the music that was hailing out of the record player set up on the veranda, but failed miserably. It was easy to join in on the laugh.

Suddenly she located a cold shiver in her stomach and her smile froze. Something wasn't right. She had had this feeling only one time before.

Rebekah focused on the amused faces around her. She tried to shake the feeling off. Everything was alright. Everybody in their family might be pricks right now,but they weren't in mortal danger.

As she glanced back over the meadow, she saw how Flora was walking up to her, making a pitiful, apologetic face. It looked like she felt bad about her behaviour after all. Rebekah was having none of it and turned away. She didn't need any pity friends.

A second later, Flora stood next to her.

"Nice party," she said.

Rebekah didn't feel any need to reply to that and focused on the guy on the piano again.

"Have you met Freya?" Flora asked and pointed to the woman next to her.

"She's in the coven here in New Orleans," she added, when Rebekah didn't reply.

"Yeah, nice, I'll be right back," Rebekah said, stepping away without knowing where to go.

Across the meadow, Niklaus stood the table with drinks. And for once, he was alone, which was a good enough of an escape for now.

As she walked up to him, he turned around to face her. She had trouble reading his face. At first glance he seemed fine. But somewhere beneath he looked worried. No, something was definitely wrong.

"What's going on with you?" Rebekah asked him.

Niklaus put down the glass he had just poured and turned back to the table. "Frankly, I don't wanna talk about it."

A second later, Briony neared and he looked up again. Rebekah was already annoyed by her presence. Couldn't she have a moment alone with her brother?

"I was looking for you, Rebekah," Briony said.

Rebekah didn't believe her.

"There's something I wanna talk to you about," she added.

"Sure, now you want to talk," Rebekah said drily.

Briony looked at her confused.

"Do you have a moment?" she asked.

"No!" Rebekah exclaimed, and strode away.

This time she didn't want anyone to follow her. But people never did what she wanted, and she heard Briony's weakly human foot steps following her.

"Wait," Briony said.

When it was clear, that Rebekah wasn't getting rid off her, she turned around swiftly.

"What?" she demanded.

Briony stopped in her tracks, surprised. "What's going on with you?"

"You don't even notice what you're doing, do you?" Rebekah said, frustrated.

"What am I doing?" Briony asked.

"Isn't one brother enough? Are you only happy when everybody is propped around you, only listening to you? Find your own bloody friends and don't just take over mine!"

"Is this about me talking to Flora before?" Briony asked unsure. "Listen, that's what I wanted to talk to you about…"

Rebekah quickly glanced at Niklaus was still back at the drinks table. She could tell he was listening.

Briony followed her glance.

"Are you kidding me? You're angry because I dare befriend your brothers?!" she asked angrily, her diplomatic voice gone.

"You're not befriending them. You're only use them to your own gain!"

"This is ridiculous! You're only jealous because your brothers manage to have friendships apart from the incestuous relationship you have within your family!"

Rebekah was boiling. It took all her might to not rip Briony into pieces right now.

"Find your own friends, Briony," Rebekah said with gritted teeth. "And a new family."

Briony was about to retort but closed her mouth again. Then, after a pause she said, with a restrained angry voice: "I'm not trying to steal anything from you, Rebekah."

A second later Rebekah was alone again, Briony having disappeared somewhere in the masses.

* * *

Niklaus had watched Rebekah and Briony shouting at each other for a while. When he realized their fight was about him, it had become too awkward to watch and he left for inside. He needed a moment for himself anyway. He wasn't sure what had happened to him. He wasn't planning on forgiving Briony nor Kol. But suddenly he heard himself teasing her the way he usually did when he was in a good mood. He couldn't think of any other occasion he had ever forgiven anyone, and certainly not for anything as terrible as this.

He considered going upstairs where he would certainly be alone, but then he heard steps from the dark living room.

Marcel was sitting on the window seat, watching the party from the darkness.

"Do you think I'm too forgiving?" he asked inside the dark room.

Marcel turned to him in surprise. He raised an eyebrow. "This is a joke, right?"

Niklaus took that as a 'no'.

Niklaus hesitated getting any closer. It looked like he had found another person in a bad mood tonight. Marcel didn't make the impression that he wanted Niklaus to be here.

Niklaus would have preferred to talk about his own issues for once, but he figured Marcel wasn't going to helpful with that.

"I'm sensing something's wrong?" he said.

Marcel looked at him defiantly.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Niklaus added.

"Oh you wanna talk about what happened to Eloise?" Marcel replied with sarcasm.

"Who?"

That was definitely not the right answer, and Marcel turned away angrily. It took Niklaus a moment to put together of whom Marcel was speaking. Eloise had been a particularly annoying vampire girl whose head he had ripped off. But that was a long time ago. And Niklaus had no idea how Marcel had learnt about this.

"Wait, who told you about that?" Niklaus asked, when Marcel wanted to leave the room.

"You're not even denying it?" Marcel asked.

"I wasn't aware that was an option."

Marcel rolled his eyes.

Niklaus didn't know why Marcel had brought this up now.

He didn't remember much about Eloise. But he remembered why killed her. It wasn't particularly about her. She was annoying, sure, but that wasn't the reason why he wanted her dead. He had asked Marcel not turn her into a vampire many times. For one, she seemed the kind of person who when turned into a vampire would only make everything worse. But the most frustrating part had been that Marcel hadn't listened to him. He got rid off her because he wanted to teach Marcel a lesson. And all that time, Marcel had thought Eloise ran away because all she wanted from him was being turned into a vampire.

In retrospect, Niklaus figured that this might not have been the wisest way of action.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked. "Do you wanna hear I'm sorry for it?"

"Do you think that makes any difference?" Marcel asked annoyed.

"No," he said.

Marcel made an attempt to leave again but then stopped. He seemed to wrestle with the words. "You always pride yourself with being so cautious and thinking ahead, but did you ever think ahead and wondered how I'd feel about this? What would happen if I found out about this? Did you really think I was just going to be fine with it?"

Niklaus didn't reply. The truth was he'd never thought Marcel would find out. But he doubted that appease Marcel very much.

"Again, what do you want me to say?" he asked after a while.

Marcel shook his head slowly in disbelief.

"Just get out of my sight," he eventually said and with one step he moved passed Niklaus and out of the door.

Somewhat struck by the unexpected fight he just had, Niklaus stayed back, gaping into the dark empty room. Tonight everybody seemed to be in a quarrelling mood. But the fight with Marcel was different. Niklaus never regretted his decisions in these matters, but something about that small issue with Marcel that had happened so long ago bugged him now. He had killed the girl because he was angry at Marcel. Some things might have turned out differently if he had just forgiven him. Would he be a different person if he had forgiven Marcel back then?

When the darkness became too unbearable, Niklaus stepped out to the veranda. Perhaps, if he picked up the conversation with Marcel right now, he could fix it somehow. Niklaus glanced over the garden. Marcel was nowhere to be seen. He must have left.

Then he looked for his siblings. Rebekah had returned to the group of people around the piano. He knew she was trying to overplay the fight she had before by letting everyone know that she was having a good time. On a bench far away from the piano sat Kol and a clearly upset Briony. She didn't seem to be over the fight yet.

Not knowing where else to go, he walked up to them.

"I've just tried to help her," Briony said to him agitatedly when he had reached them.

"She'll get over it," he replied weakly and sat down next to them.

Only now he saw that Elijah had been on the veranda, too. He was watching them. When Niklaus caught his glance, Elijah looked at him skeptically. Niklaus knew his brother was judging him. Didn't he want him to be forgiving?

He had been trying so hard to be forgiving. People didn't seem to care.

Perhaps it was him. Had he done too many bad things in his life that people had stopped caring? He wondered if his siblings only stayed with him because they had to. It seemed like it when he considered his track record with friends. He could count them on one hand. The only people he liked enough to consider them as friends, apart from his siblings, were Marcel and Briony. And one of the two stopped speaking to him just now.

Maybe he should have been more forgiving with Marcel too, and he would still be here. He didn't even know why he had forgiven Briony. Until he walked up to her, every fibre of his being told him to be angry. His instinct was to punish or hurt her, but he didn't. Perhaps he was scared of what happened if he did. Not of any physical repercussions. He was sure she'd hurt him back a lot. He wasn't scared of that. But the time of harmony would be over. Kol would certainly not speak to him anymore either and they'd leave for somewhere else. He had been teasing Rebekah for trying to make everyone live in harmony in New Orleans, but to himself he had to admit that he wanted this too. And somehow, in this moment, all depended on him being forgiving.

* * *

 _ **That was chapter 41! I hope you liked it as much as I did. Let me know what you think in the comments.**_


	42. 1925 - Saturday

**Saturday**

From all the nights in their lives it had to be this one where Niklaus lost his spine, Elijah thought. After he had seen Niklaus with Briony, completely unaffected of what Elijah had told him about her earlier, Elijah didn't feel like staying at the party any longer. Seeing them together felt like a whole new betrayal. Until now he could always count on his brother acting out retribution when needed.

He considered walking back to the mansion in town. As he was about to set out on the road, he saw Marcel walking the same way. He seemingly wasn't the only one who had a bad night. Resting against a tree he waited until Marcel had disappeared between the trees.

"Are you hiding from someone?"

The voice gave him a shiver. Katherine.

When he didn't reply, she stepped closer and said: "Hopefully not from me?"

"Why? Do you have any more truth bombs about the last few centuries?" Immediately, he regretted the sarcastic tone. He didn't know why he was annoyed with her. He was supposed to be angry with everyone else, but not her.

"From what I saw, your brother took it well enough."

He didn't reply. Elijah wasn't surprised that she already knew. She had a way to spy on people that even now he still hadn't figured out how.

"Must be a relief. The truth's out now. And nobody dead. You could call it a milestone for your family."

He closed his eyes. Why did she keep talking?

"But something tells me," she added, "you're not too happy with that."

He turned to her. "Of course I'm not happy with that! She and Kol have lied to us for centuries! We can't just brush over that within one evening!"

The worst part, he thought, was that they didn't trust him enough and lied to him as well. But he didn't want to admit to that.

"The lie is not the biggest problem, and if I'm completely honest-"

"You have never been honest, Katherine," Elijah interrupted her.

Katherine tilted her head and observed him.

"Fine," she said quietly but determined. "I can tell you exactly why you are upset. You're not upset because Niklaus betrayed you. He hasn't. And trust me, I'm the last one to take his side. The reason you told him about what Briony did wasn't because you wanted him to know the truth. You have lied way too often to him that this could be the cause for your actions. You wanted him to take revenge for _your_ suffering. That he'd punish her. You thought that if he knew, everything that upset you would be avenged, and you wouldn't even need to lift a finger for it."

After a pause she added, "and to be completely frank, I think that was pretty cowardly from you."

He looked up at her surprised. "Didn't you do the same? You could have done something about Briony a long time ago. But you didn't. You told me. And you knew that I wouldn't just let this slide."

Katherine shrugged. "A feeling of ill-placed loyalty kept me from doing it, I guess. Or perhaps I'm just a coward too."

Deep in thoughts, he sank down onto a tree branch. Katherine sat down next to him.

"I just don't understand why he didn't do anything. It was so unlike him," he said.

"Loyalties shift."

"No way," Elijah said. The bond he had with his siblings would never shift. No matter what, they'd always be there for each other.

Katherine leaned forward and spoke very slowly. "Elijah, the girl has been with your family constantly for over 200 years. Kol would pick her over the rest of you without blinking an eye. And if you truly believe that after all this time she means so little to the rest of your siblings, you're a fool. She's not an outsider anymore. Loyalties shift. For some faster than for others."

Elijah didn't want to believe her.

It wasn't fair. How come Kol had managed to get his girlfriend accepted by the whole family, but if Elijah tried the same it never worked? Katherine had been around for much longer and everybody still treated her like a pariah.

But he agreed with Katherine in one thing. He shouldn't have pushed Niklaus to do his deeds. If he wanted retribution he needed to get it himself.

The first sun rays already pushed through the woods. Yet a cool fog lay over the trees and fields. Reluctantly, Elijah went back to the summer house alone. There were still some people from the party around. And he found Niklaus, Kol and Briony in the garden, circled around the smoke-filled coal that was left of the bonfire. Niklaus looked absolutely miserable. Elijah wasn't surprised by that. Of course, he was upset, after everything that had happened. But why did he let all that lying and disloyalty just slide? It was so unlike him. They had hurt him and he did definitely not deserve it. The mere presence of his other brother and the witch made Elijah angry. Niklaus eyes were lowered, as he absent-mindedly played with the grass. Briony sat next to him, her head resting on his shoulder. She was tired, he could tell from her weak little human body. And she too looked upset. Eljiah didn't see what she had to be upset about. She didn't deserve to be upset. When she noticed him staring at her, she gave him an annoyed glance and turned away.

And Kol. Seeing him brought up a whole new level of anger in Elijah. He stood next to the fire, playing with the coal with a small tree branch. Unlike the others Kol didn't seem to be touched by any of this at all. When he saw Elijah he gave him a weak smile. But that was the last thing that Elijah wanted to respond.

Kol knew about it. He had known about this the whole time. This was so much worse than what Briony had done. He understood, to some extent, that she didn't want to help Niklaus after she had just met him. But Kol. His brother had lied and betrayed them their whole lives. He had exchanged his loyalty to them for a girl he had met on a bloody meadow in Wales in a blink of an eye.

Driven by instinct, Elijah walked up to him. It wasn't an impulse or rage. Elijah knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to hurt Kol. He pushed his brother to the ground with one swift smash. Too surprised to react and counter, Kol landed in the dirt. Eventually, Kol found his strength and tried to push back and fight his brother off. But Elijah had the higher ground and smashed him to the ground again.

In a short glance to the others, he saw Niklaus and Briony watching their fight with concern. But neither intervened.

After a few moments, Kol managed to throw Elijah off. Elijah landed a few feet away from him. Elijah stayed down. With the blow, his intent on hurting his brother was gone. None of it mattered. His feelings for his brother didn't change in any way. Kol was still a prick, if he hit him or not.

After a while where nobody spoke, Elijah eventually sat up, averting anyone's look. Although they didn't seem to pay any attention anyway. He carefully glanced over to Kol, who was still sitting where he had Elijah thrown off, somewhere lost in thoughts. And neither Niklaus nor Briony had moved nor said anything.

Only now Elijah noticed that Rebekah was sitting at the bonfire as well. He wasn't sure if she was already there when the fight happened. With crossed arms, she looked from one brother to the other, glaring mutely.

In complete silence, another few hours passed like that. By now everybody else from the party except them had left.

"I'm going back to town," Rebekah suddenly said and got up.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Briony asked, as Rebekah had turned her back to them and walked to the house.

Rebekah didn't reply.

* * *

Briony's head hurt. She wanted to lie down. But there was no time for rest. She had to prepare the spell and talk to those witches. But before she could do that she had to fix the thing with Rebekah. After she had arrived at the mansion alone, Briony knocked at Rebekah's door. Nobody opened. She didn't want to wait. Carefully she peaked inside Rebekah's room, but it was empty. Rebekah wasn't here. She made her way down the stairs again. On the foot of the stairs she saw Marcel.

"I thought you had already left," Briony said, stopping.

Niklaus had told her that he and Marcel had had a fight the night before and that Marcel had left the party abruptly. They had all figured he would have disappeared by now.

Marcel shrugged. "I only left the party. In case you didn't notice this is the only place I have as a home. I wouldn't know where else to go."

If only everyone else was as uncomplicated as Marcel.

"Have you seen Rebekah?" Briony asked.

Marcel shook his head. "I don't think she wants to be found by you right now."

Briony nodded tiredly.

"Don't worry, she'll get over it," he added.

"If you see her, tell her I was looking for her."

"Sure."

Briony made her way upstairs in her room again. She only needed to get some things and then she would be back out in the woods again preparing the spell. Her stomach hurt. That stupid meditating had been using all her resources. And the night before had taken its toll. As she lay out everything she wanted to take with her on one side of the bed, she contemplated her pillows. They looked so inviting. Just for a second she would close her eyes and rest.

After the spell was done she'd need to lie down and recharge her powers for at least a month. Lying to everybody was so exhausting. It was hard enough to lie to siblings and pretend that she was doing nothing the whole day. But the witches were a whole new challenge. How did you convince a whole coven to help with a spell they'd never agree to do? The only way to persuade all these witches to join her was a lie. They would have never helped if they knew the truth. If they knew that she was trying to turn them into humans with a long life they would have never joined. Even though it would be in the witches' interests if vampires would cease to exist because they all became humans, the witches would never allow her to give them a second chance. Not after everything they had done. They wanted them dead and only dead. So that's what Briony told them she was doing. Trying to kill them.

She must have fallen asleep, when suddenly a noise close to her head woke her up. For a second she thought it was Niklaus who had changed his mind about forgiving her. Then she saw Katherine towering next to her, looking down onto the bed.

"What on earth, Katherine…" Briony tried to sit up. "Can't you knock like any other sane person?"

"No," Katherine said.

"What is it with vampires and their habit to watch humans sleep? It's a creepy thing to do."

Katherine smiled menacingly but didn't reply. Briony didn't want her to ask why she was here. She knew she would figure out soon enough. For a while they stared at each other.

Then, Katherine sat down on the bed corner.

"Yesterday Elijah asked me something. He asked me why I told him about you. Why I told him that you helped me the whole time."

"Yes, thank you for that, by the way," Briony said through her teeth.

Outside it was already dark, she suddenly noticed in shock. She must have slept much longer than she thought.

Katherine continued. "He wanted to know why instead of telling him, I didn't look for retribution myself."

Briony's focus was back on Katherine. Why did this sound so much like a threat?

"Why didn't you?" she asked.

"I have thought about it for a while now, and I think I know now. I wanted to see what happened when Niklaus learnt about it," Katherine said.

Now that was definitely a threat.

"Disappointed?" Briony asked, carefully.

"At first," Katherine said. "But then I thought, who am I if I'm even pettier than the maniac? What does that mean if he forgives you before I do?"

"Philosophical. What do you want?" Briony eventually asked.

"Well, I thought I take a page from the maniac's book and try it with some trust. Only that I know too many things that make it impossible for me to trust you. I have been watching you for months now meeting with witches of that coven and planning something. Only that I don't know what you're planning. You're really keeping the fronts shut around this. Which makes me think it's something big. And now that I just gave you my trust, I think you should give me yours and tell me what you're doing."

"That's not trust. That's blackmailing."

"Same difference."

"What are you trying to do?" Katherine asked again.

Briony hesitated. Would Katherine understand? Or would she, like the witches, not allow the siblings to have a second chance at being humans? Briony couldn't risk it. She had to stick to the plan. Nobody must know until it was done.

"I can't tell you," she said. "Just stay put for two days and you'll understand."

"Not good enough," Katherine said.

Briony didn't have the nerve to deal with this at the moment. She had slept through the whole day. There were so much more pressing matters right now.

"You are bloody unbelievable," she said, barely hiding her anger. "I'm trying to keep you sa-"

"You're not trying to keep me safe. You want to get rid off me because… That's the thing: I don't know why you want to get rid off me but you do!"

Briony looked at her in disbelief. "I honestly don't, Katherine! Just do yourself and everyone else a favour and stay put for two bloody days!"

With that Briony got up, turned away from Katherine and began to pack her things. She hoped that Katherine would get the hint. And sure enough, a second later, Katherine was gone.

* * *

Katherine had remembered all their faces. Every witch from that coven that Briony had spoken to. And if Briony wouldn't, one of them would talk.

Katherine doubted she could sire one of them to tell her. These witches were fully aware of the vampires in their town and must have taken some precautions. But usually some threats were just as effective. She had observed in the previous weeks how some of the witches in the coven spent a lot of time in a teahouse that stayed open late at nights. Katherine decided to try her luck there.

She wasn't let down when she arrived. She recognized several faces the second she stepped in. The scent of peppermint, green tea and vervain surrounded her. Nobody payed her much attention. Her strength has always been to blend in. Some of the women she recognized were in a lively discussion over playing cards. She had almost decided to join them, when she saw a woman by herself in the corner, reading. Katherine remembered her from the party the night before and was sure she had seen her with Briony a few times. The crowded situation gave her an easy excuse to sit down across the woman. The woman didn't seem to mind, and kept reading her book. She looked awfully familiar. Her face, it reminded Katherine of Rebekah's. On the spot Katherine decided that there was an easier way to get answers than threats.

"You're in the coven as well, aren't you?" Katherine asked.

The woman looked up and nodded timidly.

"Are you a witch?" the woman.

Katherine nodded. "I'm not really the coven-type. Although I feel like I'm missing out on big events like the one tomorrow."

The woman gave a small laugh. "I don't think you're missing out. Probably smart to stay away."

"You're hesitant about this. Why?" Katherine said.

Then she changed to a softer, compassionate tone: "Are you not feeling well about these big kinds of spells? Are you worried about tomorrow?"

The woman hesitated and then shook her head. "It's nothing. It's just…"

"It's okay. You can tell me," Katherine said, understandingly.

Some people were absurdly gullible.

The woman put down her book. "I'm new here and I wasn't expecting something so drastic. I knew that most witches here are not fond of the vampires. But I thought Briony was different. I thought she was their friend."

"What is she trying to do?" she asked.

"Do you know them well?" the woman asked.

"You could say that, yes," Katherine replied, trying to hide her impatience.

"Are you friends with Niklaus?" she asked.

"Yes," Katherine said, her tongue burning up from the lie, knowing all her ancestors were turning in their graves because a bigger lie had never been told.

"She wants to kill him."

"What?" Katherine said, losing her compassionate face, processing the information.

She wanted to kill him? Her mind rushed through the many scenarios that might have brought Briony to this decision. What was her endgame? Katherine had believed that after all those years Briony had grown to like him, that she was protecting him. Was she wrong all along? She noticed that Briony must have been pretty good at lying. But was she that good?

"But how is that possible? Can she do that?" Katherine asked quickly.

"I believe so," the woman said.

The woman told her about the spell that they were going to perform the next day. Katherine understood too little about spells to tell if it would actually work. But the woman was convinced of it. Katherine was sure Briony would only try if she was certain it was going to work.

Katherine didn't know what to do. Her plan had been to sabotage Briony on whatever she was trying to do. But this? His death was something Katherine had always wanted.

Then a different thought snuck into her mind. She had thought about Elijah's words about honesty. It was true, she never had been very honest. It dawned on her that honesty this time actually was working in her favour. Either she'd wait until Briony did what she planned to do, and if she succeeded, the problem, Niklaus, was out of the way for good. Or she'd snitch on Briony now, throwing her under the bus, and get back into Elijah's good graces for good. And even though he did not deserve it at all, she was now in the position to save Niklaus' life. Would that make him forgive her?

* * *

 ** _Again, it has been a while! Sorry that you had to wait so long! I have been planning the rest of the story for quite a bit now and I'm really excited about what's to come. I hope you're enjoying it too! Let me know what you think in the comments!_**


	43. 1925 - Sunday

**_So what do plane rides, the bomb cyclone and terrible European weather have in common? They mean I got to wait around a lot last week, which gave me a lot of time to write on this fic! Two more chapters done and much more for the chapters to follow! Yay!_**

* * *

 **Sunday**

The whole Saturday had passed without any further interactions with his siblings. Kol wasn't avoiding them, but he could sense they were avoiding him. Rebekah must have left right after the bonfire. By now she had probably left Louisiana. Kol had stopped being bothered by his sister's occasional dramatic exits a long time ago. They were never for long. And especially this time it didn't matter. She'd come back after the long-awaited spell had gone through. He was sure, no matter what the result of the spell was, he'd see his sister again within two days at the latest.

Kol hadn't talked to Niklaus nor Elijah either, but he heard them sporadically sneaking through the mansion. Whenever he looked for them they had left before he reached them. That was the disadvantage when everyone in the family was blessed with inhuman speed. You could avoid anyone as long as you liked. But Kol didn't want to avoid them any longer. It was time to make amends.

When once again, Kol heard the faintest foot step of someone sneaking inside the house on Sunday noon, he immediately sat up, dead still. A second later, he practically flew down the stairs and jumped into the kitchen, where Elijah had just closed the door behind him. The second he saw Kol, he jumped back. His eyes gazed back to the door, but considering that it was to late to run away, he turned back to Kol with a glare. He looked even more tense than the day before.

"Hello," Kol said.

Elijah rolled his eyes with the greatest contempt he could muster, and made a try to pass Kol. Kol didn't expect that making amends was going to be easy, but this seemed even harder than he thought.

"What? You don't even want to punch me today?" he said, as Elijah passed him.

Elijah ignored him and walked into the hallway.

Was he that mad about the fact that they had hidden Katherine from Niklaus, and as a consequence from him? How could Elijah make this all about him in the first place? Niklaus didn't make such a fuss when he found out. His brother was annoyingly selfish, Kol thought.

"Come on now, you're overreacting. I know it sucked for you but you must see that what we have done was for Katherine's safety."

Elijah didn't stop and headed to the stairs. This utter silence of him started to worry Kol. Something was off with Elijah.

"You can't just ignore me!" he pressed again.

With one swift turn, Elijah looked back to face him. He looked so angry that Kol instinctively took a step back. He had never seen his brother with an expression like that. Not when facing him.

"How can you even look me in the eyes right now?" Elijah barked.

Kol didn't understand. They had already gone through this the day before when Elijah hit him, hadn't they? Kol, more than any of his other siblings, knew how much Katherine meant to his brother, but this seemed too much of an overreaction. How come that Elijah was so much more upset now than the day before?

"What is this about?"Kol asked warily.

"I know what you're doing," Elijah said with great distaste. "I know what you and Briony have been doing in the last few months."

"You do?" Kol asked unsure.

That was news. Elijah knew about that Briony was trying to turn Niklaus into a human today. They had been so careful.

"Katherine told me all about it," Elijah added.

Of course, Katherine had figured this out on her own. And of course she had to blab about it to Elijah. Kol understood why Elijah was angry now. Once again Kol didn't tell him a vital plan that influenced all of their lives.

"But then you must understand how this is better for everyone. I thought you of all our siblings are the most likely to understand. This is the only way we'll have a chance to live," Kol tried to argue.

Even as he spoke, he could tell that the words bounced off Elijah without any impression.

Elijah looked like he was going to explode, but then changed to a calmer but very restrained mode.

"You are killing our brother," Elijah said aghast. "You completely lost your mind!"

"Killing is not the right word here really. Just because he's not immortal afterwards. Since when have you become such a vampire purist?"

"Have you ever cared about him, or were you too busy trying to make everyone's lives harder by manipulating everyone?" Elijah said angrily.

"What?" Kol asked confused.

It took Kol a moment to catch up to the meaning of Elijah's words. "Wait, Katherine told you we're trying to kill Niklaus?!"

Suddenly it had made click. The lie. Elijah didn't know what was happening at all. Katherine had told him the lie that the witches in the coven believed.

"I can't believe you could even consider doing such a thing!" Elijah replied.

"This is not what's happening at all!" Kol said quickly.

He couldn't but feel somewhat offended that Elijah actually thought he'd wanted to kill Niklaus. How could Elijah think that Kol would actually do such a thing?

"I don't wanna hear any of this, Kol. You have shown your true colours. You were supposed to be one of us," Elijah said angrily and tried to leave.

Kol tried to hold him off. "Wait! Before you run to Nik again and tell him everything that Katherine whispers in your ear, let me say-"

"It's too late for that. I already did."

For a few seconds Kol stood still and stared at his brother in shock. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You told him," he repeated with a dry voice.

"Of course, I told him! Your girlfriend is trying to kill him! I'm sorry, but -"

The rest of Elijah's words didn't reach Kol anymore. Kol's mind rushed through the information he had just heard. Elijah told Niklaus that Briony wanted to kill him today. It was completely out of the question, that Niklaus would react in any way rationally when hearing this information. Especially not now that he already knew how he had been deceived by Briony ever since they had met. He wouldn't listen to any kind of explanation by her. And without any warning he doubted she had much of a chance against Niklaus. She could already be dead. A shiver ran through his spine. But no, that couldn't be. Because then he'd be dead too. The realization crept in like thrust hammer. This was bad.

"Niklaus. Where is he now?" Kol asked, afraid.

Elijah shrugged.

"Where did he go?!" Kol said, angrily grabbing his brother.

"Kol, I'm sorry. But it's too late. I don't think you'll be able to do anything."

Kol let go off him. It was no use. He'd be faster if he tried to find Briony. Wherever she was, Niklaus would show up as well, if he wasn't already there.

"For the record, you're a moron for believing everything that Katherine says and not trusting me." And with that he smashed open the door and rushed down the street. As he left Elijah behind he regretted not saying anything nicer. He really hoped that weren't his last words to him.

* * *

With slow calculated steps he descended to the cave that opened between the trees. From the downtrodden path it was clear that many people passed through here frequently. But nobody except him would walk through here today. Not far from the cave he had encountered two witches who were walking the same way as him. They hadn't been expecting any danger in the woods, and were an easy target. At least now Niklaus wouldn't have to expect some weak attempts of strikes against him.

It was brighter in the cave than he had expected. He looked up and saw a thing but long opening in the rocks that led in daylight.

On the other end of the cave, Briony sat with the back to him, preparing branches into small bouquets.

"Finally I get some company here. After today's done I'm not going to leave the bed for a month. And I demand good food. Prepping hills for a spell like this is too demanding. I can barely fill my limbs anymore. Or my brain to be honest," Briony said with a laugh, still focused on the branches.

Then she turned around and her face froze.

"You're not Kol," she said drily.

Her eyes gazed behind him, searching for anybody else. But nobody was there. Niklaus had made sure of that.

"What are you doing here, Nik?" she asked, slowly rising to a stand.

Silently he took a few steps closer. He could tell from her concerned face that she knew that something was up. Without blinking she watched his moving ever closer, never losing his eye contact. She might be terrible, a traitor and the worst thing that had ever happened to his family, but she wasn't stupid.

He had gone through the scenario in his head before. Part of him wished nothing more than simply to rip her head off right now and be done with it. But another, much more emotional part of him wanted her to suffer.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"I know what you're doing here," he said, breaking his actual plan not to engage in a conversation with her.

"And now you thought you'd bring an end to it," Briony concluded.

He wasn't sure if she was mocking him. In any case, he didn't like it.

He took a few steps closer.

"I almost have to give you credit for maliciousness and endurance. How long have you been pretending to be my friend? Several centuries? And just to find right moment to kill me?" he said.

"You're mistaken. I'm not trying to kill you." Briony said determined, while at the same time slowly backing away.

More lies. How could he ever be so blind?

"Nik, we've been past this. I have been trying to be your friend almost since the day we met, and you always find reasons not to trust me. Trust me now, I'm telling you the truth. I'm not trying to kill you."

"I will never believe a word you say again."

The concern and fear in her eyes made way for anger. She stopped her tracks.

"Why am I even putting up with this? All you have inside you is mistrust and hate. You are completely unable to feel sympathy for another being. I have spent all this time helping you. For what? Even now that I kept you and your siblings save for over 300 years you do not have the imagination that I actually could be your ally? Am I really such a blank slate to you?"

He didn't want to reply to this. None of it changed what she was planning to do now. How she had kept Katherine away from him since day one.

She looked at him demandingly. When no reply came, she sighed angry resignation.

"I can't do this anymore. Find a new bloody witch that can help you with your crazy plans in the future."

She made a try to pass him but he held her back. She tried to break free, and even she seemed surprised by the lack of strength there was in her attempt. She was weak. Much weaker than usual.

"Let go off me," she said angrily.

He could hear her heart beat rise. Despite the defiance in her face, she must have come to the conclusion that she wasn't getting out of this. Niklaus waited.

"If you're waiting for me to beg or to cry, then you're horribly mistaken. All I do is pity you for your inability to ever make a rational decision."

How he hated her for pretending to be superior to him, even in this situation.

"Do it then," she said defiantly. "I'm telling you, you won't come back from this."

Her stupid smug face made it so much easier.

He thought of something to say. A take-back. Or even some poetic last words. There was nothing inside him, except desperation, anger and fear.

He stared deep into her eyes that glared back at him in a mixture of fear and defiance.

He loathed everything about her. He had trusted her. He had accepted her. He actually liked her. Now all of this spiralled in his insides like a poisonous plant, reminding him why none of this ever should have happened. The desire to see her suffer was long gone, all he wanted to do was snap her neck and be done with it. Her pulse under his thumb on her neck beat fast as if it was mocking him. If only it would stop.

Suddenly the warm touch of her hands grabbed on his wrists. They were too weak to do anything. But she kept them there nevertheless. He wavered.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to undo it. He hesitated.

He didn't want to do this.

He had never wanted to do this.

Her grip on his wrists weakened until her hands swept away. Soundless the body fell on the ground before him. And Niklaus was alone.

* * *

Elijah watched Kol rushing out of the front door. He didn't understand what Kol had meant when he had run off. He was sure that Katherine was telling him the truth, but did he actually believe that Kol was trying to kill their brother? He didn't know what to believe. A sudden doubt came up in him as he saw his brother running away.

Without knowing on whose side he was going to be on, if Kol actually stood between Nik and Briony, he took up his brother's trail and followed him as fast as he could. He only hoped he could find him again.

After a few turns, just as he had reached the forest, he saw the figure of his brother not far from him. If Kol had slowed down, that might be a good sign, he thought.

But as Elijah got closer, something seemed off. Why was Kol not moving any further? He was only a few hundred meters away now. And then, suddenly, Kol wasn't standing anymore. As if gravity had swept him away from his feet, Kol fell over like plank.

Elijah fastened his speed until he reached his brother. Kol was lying facedown in the mud. Quickly, Elijah turned him around. The second his hand had touched his brother, he knew that his wasn't Kol anymore. It was death.

Elijah couldn't believe that they had to live through this again. But unlike with Finn's death, those who remained felt much more separated now. Finn's death had brought the rest of the siblings closer together, but now was different. Obviously it had to do with the fact that they were getting fewer. But even those still alive Elijah didn't really care to see at the moment. And stupid, stupid Kol. Why would he bind his life to a mortal witch? And more importantly, why did he not tell anyone about this? A day had already passed and nothing felt normal anymore.

Rebekah appeared in the door way to Elijah's room. "I found Nik in the forest a few miles south. He's not in a good place right now."

"That's understandable." Elijah said, gazing into nothingness.

Rebekah sat down next to him and buried her head in her hands. The house was quiet.

"Where's Flora?" he eventually asked.

"She left," Rebekah said with a thin voice. "I don't think she'll come back."

Yes, everybody would rather be alone right now. He wouldn't be surprised if Marcel had left in the mean time as well.

"I just don't understand. I can't believe that she'd try to kill Niklaus," Rebekah said.

"Me neither," he said shortly.

He didn't know what to believe. Briony and Nik had got along great in the last years. But he was so sure that Katherine didn't lie to him. He saw it in her eyes. And Briony was lying to him ever since they'd met her. Was anything about her ever true? And how much did Kol know about this? What did Kol mean when he said he should have trusted him?

"Maybe we should leave Niklaus alone for a while," Elijah said.

Rebekah shook her head. "We won't do such a thing. Think about it. This might be the worst thing he has ever done. And you just want kick him out and leave him on his own, probably making it worse?"

Elijah shook his head. Of course he didn't want to make it worse for Niklaus. But how was he supposed to heal if he had to be around his brother who practically killed Kol?

"It's just so hard to look at him right now."

"That will pass. I think we have to make the right decision right now. The three of us need to stay together, else everything else will crumble as well."

It wasn't going to be easy. And there weren't any alternatives. Rebekah was right. They had to stay together in order to get better.

* * *

 _ **I hope you liked it! The 1925 storyline is done for now and I'll return to present day with the next chapter (also taking a break from flashbacks for a while). Let me know what you think in the comments!**_


	44. 17th Century Soulmates

**_In case you haven't seen it: I posted another chapter earlier today. So make sure you didn't miss Chapter 43! (I have been busy :-))_**

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

Almost two months had passed since some of Niklaus' least favourite days had occurred, and even though they hadn't found anything to reverse what had happened, it felt bearable. The trick was to not get stressed. Somewhere out there was a solution and with that belief he kept himself sane.

The biggest worry he had right now was Elijah. He hadn't seen him in over a month. One morning, Elijah's room had been empty. Niklaus had expected that his brother would leave sooner or later. He only wished he knew what his brother was doing. Was he sitting at a beach somewhere, getting drunk and awaiting a sudden death? Or would he get back to his old self and look for a solution on his own? If it was the latter, Niklaus could at least accept his absence.

Niklaus saw no reason to leave the mansion until he had a lead on where to go. And he didn't care too much if the people around him stayed or not. But everyone had stayed. He assumed that Davina had nowhere else to go. Although he ignored her, unless she had an idea to save Marcel and Rebekah, she had treated him much nicer in the las few weeks. She probably felt pity for him. But he had no idea why Freya was still there. Any time he or Briony did research or even opened a book, Freya reminded them that death was absolute and shouldn't be reversed. He couldn't hear any more of her bickering. When one day she got particularly annoying and followed him into the study room and held him a lecture on life and death, he unceremoniously pushed her inside the broom closet and locked it. From then onwards this had become his go-to method to deal with her. The continuous hammering and stamping that came from the closet was much more endurable than Freya's constant preaching.

Briony, who he found slightly less annoying than the others, because she didn't look at him with pity and did something useful, was busy with whatever she found in the house and she could do research on. He too was caught up in a constant need of searching for a solution, and catered to hers by finding more notes and books splattered through the house and bringing them into the living room. From a closet in the cellar he had carried up another stack of books that they hadn't looked through yet. It worried him that it had taken them over a month and they still hadn't worked through all the books they owned. But Briony insisted on being thorough. It was hard to argue with that.

In the living room, he let the books fall on the coffee table, in front of Briony. She looked up frustrated.

"We're nowhere near done with the stack over there. What am I supposed to do with these?"

"Read. We need to be faster," he replied.

"All you do is create a bigger mess than there already is," she waved to the dinner table and chairs that were stacked with books and paper.

"No, I'm just reminding you that there are much more books from where those come from and that you're a slow reader."

Although, if he was completely honest, he appreciated her determination in finding a solution.

She picked one of the new books and pulled it towards her. "You know, I'm way too tired to actively hate you. But that doesn't mean I like you very much."

"Yeah yeah, you can go back to hating me when we're done with this. Now we got work to do."

"I still can't believe that I've been brought back to life just to be commanded around by you."

"Yes, about that," Davina walked to the coffee table and began sorting the new books onto different stacks. "Resurrecting you wasn't that hard. I was part of the spell and I didn't even try that hard."

"Because it happened to be on a hill that had been propped up for sacrifice for months before my death. Propped up by me, ironically. Neither Rebekah nor Marcel had anything like that."

"And the mother, Esther, how did she get resurrected?" Davina asked.

"She wasn't actually dead to begin with. We're dealing with a whole different league here. Also, whatever we're doing, we'll need to do it twice. Once for Rebekah and once for Marcel…" Briony drifted off and looked to the ceiling.

"What is that noise from upstairs?" she asked.

"Hm?" Niklaus asked innocently. He was surprised how long it had taken her to hear the loud knocks from the broom closet in the study. It had been going on for hours.

"It's like somebody's knocking at a door," she said and got up.

She went upstairs and after a short pause of resignation he followed and caught up with her in front of the broom closet in the study.

"Did you lock Freya in the closet?" she asked confused.

He shrugged. "She was being preachy again."

With an exasperated sigh, Briony unlocked the door. Freya appeared, exhausted and bewildered.

"Is everyone in this house deaf? I have been knocking and stomping for hours!" she exclaimed angrily.

"You're welcome," Briony said with a raised eyebrow and made way for Freya to pass.

Freya determinedly marched passed them towards the room at the end of the hall that she had made her own.

"Since we're staying here for longer, we should fix that hole in the kitchen," she said determinedly.

Niklaus was wondering if that was all she was thinking about when locked in the closet. But it gave him an idea.

"Your aunt, the one who blew the hole in the kitchen. Do you think Aurora would help us?" he asked.

"With fixing it? I doubt it," she replied sarcastically.

"You know what I mean."

"No," Freya said shortly.

He and Briony exchanged a look. "Is that a no, like 'maybe she says yes after we're pushing the question really hard'? We can be very persuasive."

"It's a no, as in 'not even when hell freezes over'," Freya replied.

"You know, Freya, you're not being very helpful," Nik said reproachfully.

"Yes, I do know," Freya said with an eye roll. "That's because I don't want to help you."

A second later the door to her room smashed shut, and Niklaus and Briony were left alone in the hallway.

"I was thinking, Nik," Briony began.

He had never liked sentences that started like this.

"Must be a new experience for you," he said.

She ignored him. "I'm spending all my energies and resources in trying to save Rebekah and Marcel. I was wondering what's in it for me."

He raised an eyebrow. "I would have thought you liked them enough that having them back was your reward."

"I do," she said quickly. "But I don't see why Rebekah gets the special treatment over the rest of your siblings."

Niklaus eyed her suspiciously until he figured out what she meant. "You want to bring back Kol."

She shrugged with a smile.

"You really want to make this even more difficult," he said.

"Considering we're already trying the impossible, that doesn't matter."

Now that she mentioned it, it did seem to be the right thing to do. Now that the possibility was there, Niklaus wanted him back too. The idea excited him.

"Fine," he said.

Her face lit up. Excited by the prospect, she nodded and hurried down the stairs again. If Kol was what she needed to get her full attention to find a solution, Niklaus would gladly give that to her.

When he made his way down as well, he had already expected her back in the living room with Davina. But Briony was rooted at the foot of the stairs. He moved down to see what she was looking at.

In the entrance door stood Elijah. Quietly, he took a few steps inside the room.

It was good to see him. He looked much better than he had a month ago. And if he had come back, he either wanted to see his brother again or he had something that would help them save the rest of his siblings. Niklaus would be happy with either.

He would have liked to walk up to him and hug him, but somehow Elijah looked like he didn't want him to.

"You're back," Niklaus said instead.

Elijah nodded with a deadpan expression. He pulled out a piece of parchment out of the inside of his jacket. "There's something I need you to look at."

* * *

"So what do you think?" Elijah asked, when he was finished.

Niklaus, Briony and Davina sat around him, paying attention to each of his words. Nervously, Elijah waited for a reply.

When he had found the old piece of parchment in one of their old hideouts, he immediately knew that he had to come back. It spoke of a strong spell that had revived a witch's loved one. The spell was described as a bridge between two people that could bring back the dead person back to life. Elijah had found it in a box of Niklaus' old things, among his brother's documentation on strong witches in the world and where to find them. That's why they had never bothered with the content of the spell. The only thing that had mattered back then was that it spoke of a very powerful witch that Niklaus wanted to find. Even if that particular search for the witch in the 17th century had turned out as a dead end, they were sure now that at some point in time somebody managed to revive completely dead people. And if a witch in the 17th century could do it, why shouldn't they?

"Is it good enough to bring back three people?" Niklaus asked, glancing over to Briony.

"Three?" Elijah asked confused.

Niklaus hesitantly said: "We decided to bring back Kol as well."

Elijah sighed. Somehow he was not surprised that Niklaus and Briony had trouble figuring out where to stop.

"I don't like how you two pick favourites among your siblings," Briony said with a frown.

"It's not like that at all. I'm just trying to say that we're already have our hands full with the other two."

Briony kept glaring at him.

"Fine, fine, I didn't say anything," Elijah said with raised hands.

He felt stupid for arguing in favour of his brother's death.

Briony looked at the parchment again.

"Besides the issue of the number of people we'd like to bring back, the parchment speaks of eternal soulmates. I wasn't aware that either of you see Rebekah or Marcel as your eternal soulmates," Briony commented with a raised eyebrow.

"That's not what I was thinking about," Elijah said. "A witch had performed the spell in the 17th century to resurrect his wife and children after they had died in a fire. A whole family."

"Did it work?" Davina asked.

Elijah nodded.

"And everything went well?" Briony asked.

"The spell, yes. Didn't turn out so well for the man. He and his family were burnt at the stake for witchcraft a year later. That's why it has never been documented besides here."

Niklaus face lit up. "Yes! I remember that! We meant to visit him but he was already dead before we got to him."

"How did you find out about him?" Briony asked.

"I remembered him from back then actually," Elijah said. "Well, we had never met him. All we knew was he had been a very powerful witch. We had been looking for him, but he was dead before we found him."

Elijah particularly remembered the hissy fit his brother had after he had found out the witch was dead.

"Why did you look for him in the first place?" Davina asked.

" _Someone in the family_ had been obsessed with finding a witch to help him do his deeds."

He glanced over to Niklaus.

"Ah, memories," Briony said with a smile.

"But how did he do it? The spell speaks of one person, a soulmate, not several people?" she added, more seriously.

Elijah shrugged with. "I was hoping you could tell us."

Briony sighed and sank back in her chair. "I don't know how many times I have told you this. This is not how magic works. I can't just make up something without any guidelines just because some random wizard with a crazy amount of powers had managed to do something a few centuries back."

"But it's a start, isn't it?" Niklaus said.

"Yeah, it is," she said reassuringly and got up. After some hesitation, Elijah realized that she actually meant it.

While the others were back at rummaging the cellar and all the cupboards in the house in consideration of the new information, Elijah stayed back in the living room with the parchment on the coffee table. From the mess with the many stacks of books and notes in this room, he could tell they had kept themselves busy.

"You're back!" Freya swept inside. She seemed relieved.

"Have been for a few hours," he replied.

"Of course, nobody told me about it. I just realized something was up when they were all up and rummaging through the house again."

"To be honest, I'm surprised you're still here, Freya," he said.

"Frankly, that's what I'm asking myself right now. Your brother locked me inside a closet today!" Freya exclaimed.

Elijah laughed. "Why that?"

"He said he didn't want to hear about my opinions on life and death anymore and that I annoyed him."

Elijah shook his head with a smile.

"This is not funny! I've been in there for hours!"

"If you knew Niklaus for as long as I have, you'd realize that this is probably the tamest kind of retaliation that he could possibly do. I think you actually grew on him."

Freya rolled her eyes. "Is that a good thing?"

"You can be as blasé about it as you like. But if you didn't care at least a little bit about him, you wouldn't have stayed all this time."

Freya shrugged. "It is hard not to feel at least a little bit sorry for him. I can tell he feels terribly guilty."

"He should," Elijah said quietly.

"Maybe," Freya began with some hesitation, "you shouldn't give him such a hard time. Or at least talk to him about it. His behaviour to bury himself into work is not healthy. It would be much better for everybody if things could calm down for a bit."

Elijah paused. "Even if I wanted to do that, I doubt I could change his mind."

He knew Freya meant well, but Elijah didn't want things to calm down right now. Not now that they actually had a lead. And apart from that, he wasn't ready to forgive his brother for anything.

Elijah was relieved to hear foot steps in the corridor that interrupted Freya's reply.

A second later, an agitated Briony appeared, rushed to the coffee table and fell on her knees in front of it. Her lit up face practically screamed that she had an idea. Niklaus, who must have heard her trampling into the living room, almost appeared at the same time.

"When was this again?" she demanded agitated, wildly pointing at the parchment in front of her.

"17th century," Elijah said.

"What is this about?" Niklaus pressed.

"Regression," she said excitedly, and then turned to Elijah again: "When exactly?"

"What are you talking about?" Freya asked.

Elijah ignored her and turned back to Briony. "It must have been ca. 1650. Come again?"

Briony's face sunk. "I might have been able to regress to my body from that time and go talk to the witch and figure it out myself, but I don't know if I was born yet back then."

"You don't know when you were born?" Davina had entered from the hallway and eyed her in a mixture of disbelief and delight.

"Different times, Davina. And not the point."

Elijah remembered how they had found Briony in the early 1700s. Even then, they had no idea how old she actually was. They had only heard about her the first time maybe a year before. From earlier failures when finding witches they had wanted to find her as quickly as possible. But that didn't matter now. Briony's plan with regression had potential. If only they knew somebody who had knowledge of the spell of that witch at a later time. Maybe the witch had any surviving relatives, Elijah thought.

"Would it make sense to look for somebody else, at any point later in time?" Elijah asked.

Davina tried ask something else, but Briony cut her off: "Depends. Do you have any other connections to that man?"

Davina got up agitated. "What about them?!" she asked impatiently with a loud voice, pointing to Elijah and Niklaus.

"Oh," Briony said surprised. "Right. I forgot."

"What?" Elijah asked.

"You've been around in 1650. I might not be able to send back myself, but I could send back you two."

* * *

 _ **So that's it for today! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As mentioned before, I'm taking a break from the flashbacks for now, and after this chapter you probably can guess why. Let me know what you think in the comments!**_


	45. Regression

_**In case you were wondering: Yes, I'm still writing this story! Sorry for the long break!**_

* * *

 ** _Present Day_**

"You must be aware that this can go wrong in so many ways," Freya pleaded. "Getting there, back in time, is one thing, but you won't know if you manage to return to the presence afterwards. You might get stuck somewhere inbetween, lost in time forever."

With crossed arms, Freya blocked Niklaus' way to the hallway. Over the last week, she had become continuously more nervous about the fact that they were preparing a journey through time. Only now it had set in that they were actually going to do it. From what Niklaus had gathered, regression was nothing difficult. At least not for Briony, who seemed excited to perform an easy spell that she could do in a short time. Freya's reaction gave a different impression. He didn't know what to make with her reaction though. Perhaps there was more to regression that Briony let them know. But he was sure that a part of Freya disagreed with anything he and Elijah attempted to do out of principle. He wondered if she still was against their whole existence. But none of this would explain why she was still here.

"You almost sound worried for us," he replied.

"All she's worried about is that Elijah's plan might actually work," Davina weighed in, letting the hammer in her hand fall on the on the sofa cushion next to her. The hammer bounced back and smashed onto the carpet, smashing over the paper box with the leftover nails that melodiously rolled over the floor. Davina didn't seem to register any of the noise nor the mess she made.

They had almost boarded off the complete living room. The only thing Niklaus actually worried about was that somebody would attack them while they were out of their bodies. Briony had told them that their present bodies would remain here and stay in a deep sleep. Depending on how long it would take them to find the witch and persuade him to tell them what they needed, they might be out of their bodies for a while. And Niklaus didn't like having his body lying around in such a helpless state. This boarded off room was the least they could do.

"All I'm saying is that Elijah's plan involves time travel and that is pretty risky, for you and for everyone else!" Freya said.

"So do you have any other ideas then, Freya? A safe way you feel more comfortable about?" he said with sarcasm.

Freya glared at him.

"It's going to be fine. Don't think about it!" they heard Briony from the kitchen.

Freya sighed with frustration. "It must be terribly convenient for you that the best witch you could find is also the most irresponsible one."

"That has its merits, yes," he said.

"Briony's right. Let's focus on getting us back in time," Elijah concluded, ignoring Freya's last comment.

He finished boarding up the last window. "There's no sense in worrying now."

After glancing over the other boarded windows, he said: "Okay, there's much more to prepare. Let's not dally around," and left the room.

Niklaus had no idea where his brother was running off to, but Davina followed with decided steps.

Freya took this as the end of the discussion as well, and with crossed arms, she disappeared into the garden.

Niklaus began to pick up the nails that were still spread over the carpet and put them back in the box. When he was sure that Elijah was out of earshot, he moved to the kitchen door to Briony, who was cutting up leaves for the spell.

"Do you remember when the thing with Finn happened and Elijah had that crossbow, and suddenly Elijah got the whole credit for saving everyone in that vault?" he asked.

"With the crossbow and arrows _that I made_? Yes, I remember," Briony said.

In her dry tone, he could tell she was thinking the same as him.

"Exactly," Nik replied. "You also contributed to everyone's safety. So did I by the way."

"Yes, you did! You practically sacrificed yourself so Kol could get to me!" Briony said, heavily agreeing.

Nik crossed his arms. "If the time travel and afterwards that bridge spell works, Elijah is going to get the whole credit again, isn't he?"

A few days later they had prepared everything for the spell that was supposed to bring them back to the 17th century. Niklaus wasn't nervous about it. On the contrary, it gave him a sense of purpose. Briony had told them in detail what would happen. They would be transferred back into their old bodies from the 17th century, wherever they were at that moment in time. They had picked a date in late spring. Neither Niklaus nor Elijah could remember any exact dates of that time or had written anything specific down. Yet both were sure that they were in Europe in spring 1652 and had left for America in the summer that followed. They had returned to Europe in the following year but the witch had already been dead by then. So spring 1652 seemed a safe bet to find the witch alive and in action.

Neither Briony nor Freya had experienced regression, and therefore couldn't tell them what it was going to feel like, or if it hurt. Niklaus didn't care. If it meant they'd find a way to save him and his siblings, he could endure all the pain in the world.

Briony had other worries, of which she had been reminding him and Elijah ever since they had made this plan. Their time travel plan would be for nothing if they wouldn't get her the information she needed to recreate the 17th century wizard's spell.

"You have to ask him exactly what he did. I want his words. And what he used and how long it took. You won't be able to write it down. You need to remember every detail, understood?" Briony pressed.

"For the hundredth time, yes," Niklaus said.

In the past weeks she had been pestering him with memory exercises, and tips on how to learn things by heart quickly. Niklaus found all of them useless. He was sure he would be able to remember one spell, especially knowing how important it was going to be later.

She looked at him in a mixture of resignation and regret, like a teacher who had long given up on him.

"It would be so much easier if it was me who could ask him," Briony said, shaking her head.

Niklaus didn't answer to that. That had been Briony's biggest lament in the past few weeks. But they couldn't bring her. It was too unlikely that Briony had already been born in 1652 to risk it.

"And don't try to meddle with things. Regression is for seeking information, not changing the course of history. You shouldn't be able to do it anyway. Nature will find a way to undo your actions to balance them out," she added.

"Then we can do whatever we like?" Nik asked.

"Because you are you, I'm a bit afraid that you find a way to create such a big mess that nature won't be able to fix it. So don't try to do that." After a pause she added: "Please."

Then she turned to Elijah: "Just keep Nik from doing any rash decisions. And don't let him wander off and preoccupy his mind with other things that have nothing to do with the spell. Even if he walks into some old grudges or flames that he considers the biggest enemies of his life, make sure you two stay focused."

"Got it," Elijah said, nodding.

"I'm standing right here," Nik said, affronted.

Briony ignored him and added: "All you want to do is talk to that man and come back, understood?"

"Let's do this then," Elijah concluded.

* * *

 ** _On the Atlantic Ocean, 1652_**

Falling forward, Elijah caught himself on the table in front of him. It felt like he had been thrown high into the air and twirled around for hours. His legs were wobbly and his body had trouble figuring out what was up and down. For a few moments he let himself rest with closed eyes, still holding onto the table, until the world stopped turning in his head. Then he opened his eyes again. It was dark, except the light of a lantern to his left. He saw the wooden walls, but no windows. If that had not already given it away, the salty smell and the unsteady wooden floor boards underneath his feet would have confirmed that he was on a ship.

Something behind him moved and he turned around. Kol was sitting in the corner, legs stretched onto another chair, reading.

"Kol?" Elijah said with a dry voice.

"Hm?" Kol said, unfazed.

"Kol," Elijah said again, realizing.

It had worked, they were back in the past. With one leap he moved towards Kol and grabbed him into a standing position and enclosed him in a hug.

"What is going on?" Kol said, confused.

Elijah ignored him. This was something he had never thought he could do again. He had missed him so much.

"Can you let go of me now?" Kol asked, after a minute had passed.

Reluctantly, Elijah loosened his grip.

Still holding on to Kol's shoulders he said: "It's so good to see you."

"Right," Kol said somewhat irritated. "Sight is a miraculous thing."

Time travel. Only now the extremeness of what he was experiencing hit him. Until now time travel was such an abstract concept. But this was real. 1652. Elijah tried to remember what had happened in detail in that year. They were supposed to be in Europe, on land. Not on a boat. If he remembered correctly they had gone to New York just before they had found out about that witch in Ireland. They must have been on their way there now. He considered asking Kol about it, but that would have raised too many questions. Elijah had not many memories of this journey. It must have been a dull boat ride.

New York. Panic rose in him. They were in the middle of the Atlantic and they were going into the wrong direction. They had arrived too late. How much use could this spell be if they didn't even make it to Ireland in time to find the witch alive?

He heard steps from the corridor. A moment later the door opened and Niklaus appeared. From his eyes he could tell it was the Nik from his time. He was relieved to see him.

"Kol!" Niklaus exclaimed.

He too pulled him into a long hug.

"Okay, you two must have messed up something big if you're behaving like that," Kol said drily, enduring the second passionate hug.

"No, no, everything's fine," Niklaus said in a very weak attempt to lie.

"Stop caressing my head then," Kol said uncomfortably.

"Where are we going, Nik?" Elijah asked concerned, when Niklaus let go of Kol.

"Originally, to America. But all's good, I already sired the crew to turn around and ship us to Ireland," Nik said.

Elijah nodded in relief. It might take them a week but they could still make it.

"What do you mean 'where are we going'?" Kol looked at Elijah, then turned to Nik, even more upset: "And we're doing what now?!"

Before either of them had the chance to answer, they heard more stamps from the corridor.

"Who has sired the whole ship crew to turn around?!" Rebekah exclaimed as she smashed open the door that loudly bounced off the wall. "You knew exactly that I was looking forward to get to New York, but no, if Rebekah wants something we obviously must do the opposite!"

"Get away from me, you weirdos!" Rebekah tried to ring herself out of the double embrace of her two brothers without success.

"Just endure it, Rebekah," Kol waved her off from the distance. "I don't know what's going on with them either."

"This is literally my favourite day of all days," Niklaus said without any intention of letting her go.

Eventually she managed to push both of them away.

"Okay, what have you done?" she asked irritated but somewhat softened by the hearty welcome. "Why are we going back to Europe?"

Elijah and Niklaus exchanged a look. Telling them the truth was not an option.

"There's something we need to do. And it can't wait," Nik replied.

"Which is?" Kol asked.

Elijah and Niklaus looked at each other and hesitated. They had planned the confrontation with their siblings in case there was one beforehand, and thought about ways to make them leave. But now Elijah's mind was blank. Seeing his siblings alive right in front of him has completely thrown him off his game.

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "You really don't think that this is a good enough of an excuse, do you?"

"We're just doing a short detour, and we'll be on our way to New York again," Niklaus added.

"Can I quickly talk to you in private, Nik?" Elijah asked.

Rebekah didn't look too happy about this suggestion, but seemed to have resigned to her brothers' antics. With a grumble she crossed her arms and turned away. Elijah pulled his brother out of the room into the dimly lit corridor.

This is not how this was supposed to go. Elijah's and Niklaus' plan was to interact with their siblings as little as possible and run off to Ireland before they could notice anything and follow them. But how are they supposed to do that if they're stuck on a boat with them?

When Kol and Rebekah were out of earshot, Elijah said: "Obviously I would love to spend as much time with them as possible while we're here. But it might not be such a good idea to bring them along. We need to get to Ireland and find that man as fast as we can. They'll slow us down there when we don't tell them what we're trying to do. And we can't tell them. We shouldn't mess with more than necessary."

Niklaus glanced back to the cabin where Rebekah and Kol still were. Elijah could tell it was a hard choice for him to leave them back as well.

"You're right," he said sadly. "We don't have time to bring them to New York now, but we'll tell them to go there as soon as we arrive in Ireland."

When Kol and Rebekah rejoined them, Elijah tried to break the news to his siblings with the most pragmatic voice he could muster. From Rebekah's disbelieving eyes that drilled through him and Kol's occasional snarks, Elijah knew he was talking to a wall.

"Absolutely not!" Rebekah said. "You can't just ship us off to a different continent without telling us where you're going! This is not how we do things!"

"What do you mean? You run off without telling us where you go all the time!" Elijah countered, at the same time trying to remember if Rebekah had actually ever done that before the 1650s.

Rebekah looked scandalized. "This is an unheard-of accusation! Considering that you two are the ones who want to ditch us!"

"I'm sorry," Elijah said. "But you can't come. It's too important. Besides, you wanted to go to New York, didn't you? You'll be there in no time and we'll join you as soon as we can."

"I don't wanna go to New York now!" Rebekah spat.

"Yeah," Kol weighed in, "I have the feeling that it's going to be much more interesting where you're going."

"Tell us where you're going!" Rebekah insisted.

"There's something we need to do," Elijah repeated, hesitating.

"Yeah, you already said that," Rebekah said drily. "A very important mission that you magically have remembered last night. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean."

"And you have been awfully quiet," Rebekah turned angrily to Niklaus. "Do you agree with this?!"

Taken aback by his sister's outburst, Niklaus stammered: "Yes, you can't come with us."

Elijah and Niklaus exchanged a look. They wouldn't change their siblings' minds. And there was no sense in ditching them when they arrived in Ireland. Kol and Rebekah would find them in no time. His siblings could be very efficient when they set their mind to it, especially when they were acting out of spite. Elijah and Niklaus already knew they weren't going to get rid of those two.

"Fine," Elijah said. "We're going to see a witch. In Ireland."

"Splendid," Kol said, as if that settled the deal that he and Rebekah were joining them. Kol's approach to these things usually had been not to ask too many questions, if that meant he could weasel his way into his brothers' journeys.

"You were never interested in finding witches, Kol," Nik said.

"I sense that it's going to be more exciting than usual if you don't want me to be there."

Elijah sighed. He had no idea how delicate this "not meddling with things" was supposed to be, and he hoped that changing his siblings' course over the span of several weeks was not too much meddling with time. Yet a part of him couldn't feel regret about this new course. He was actually looking forward to the trip now. Now he could be with his little brother and little sister for much longer.

* * *

 _ **I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know what you thought in the comments!**_

 ** _Also thanks so much to everybody who wrote me kind messages in the last months! You guys rock!_**


	46. Clement

**_Yes, yes, I'm back and totally feel like I'm going to change now and write regular updates but who knows. To be honest, I've had a quite a week of inspiration and got back into this story a lot. Good thing: I outlined everything until the ending (that is *relatively near in sight) and because I have trouble letting go I also have great ideas for a sequel now... Anyhow, here's chapter 46!_**

* * *

 _Rural Ireland, 1652_

"I can't believe he did that to me! I have never been so offended in my entire life!"

In an uneven staccato, the wheels under the carriage rattled over the unpaved washed-up road that led them from Dublin into the countryside. Niklaus had forgotten how slow transportation used to be. With this speed he would have been faster on foot. Kol and Rebekah didn't seem to mind. The whole journey they had been loudly talking about some acquaintances of them from Cordoba. Niklaus only had a vague recollection of these people. All long dead in his present, with no consequences for the world whatsoever. How pointless 99% of the people they had met in their lives now seemed.

Elijah leaned over to him, whispering so that Kol and Rebekah wouldn't pay attention.

"I think we should be up front with the witch. We're going to tell him what we want, and ask for his help. Beg if necessary. I have the feeling, intimidation won't work this time," he whispered.

Niklaus nodded. He didn't believe that this was the best approach, but now that Elijah was talking to him again he didn't want to mess it up by disagreeing already.

"What are you two whispering about again?" Rebekah asked and rolled her eyes. "You are unbelievable."

"Seriously, this 'we need to find a witch' business has to stop, Nik. Give it up," Kol added, bored.

His previous excitement about finding the witch had vanished during their travel. For the last few days Kol had been trying to persuade everyone to go to London instead.

"I'm still not sure why you so desperately need one. Witches are obnoxious. I would go crazy having one around me all the time."

He and Elijah exchanged a look.

"You're saying that now," Nik replied, repressing a smirk.

"I don't know what you're trying to tell me," Kol said. "But honestly, I don't care. You're both annoying with your inside jokes."

It had been a big relief when they arrived a few hours later at their destination, a rural village that prided itself in being a medieval hub because the main road was cobblestoned. This is the farthest they had got last time they were here. Back then, in this small village close to a deep ravine they had received the bad news that the wizard had already been burned at the stake. But this time they were early. He was still alive. He must be.

Neither Elijah nor Niklaus wanted to lose any time. The witch must be close.

After some loud resistance, Rebekah and Kol gave in and agreed to wait for their brothers at a nearby inn. Accompanied by some loud chattering they trotted off and disappeared inside a guesthouse on the market square.

Elijah watched how they disappeared inside.

"I forgot that Rebekah and Kol were that close," he said.

"Hm," Niklaus said, lost in thoughts.

They decided to split up and each search one half of the town. Only now Niklaus remembered how this had been his least favourite part of the whole finding a witch business. They were so hard to find if you didn't have another witch to find them for you. Everything was so much easier with location spells. But at least here most people understood some basic English. That would simplify things if he needed to interrogate anybody.

He walked along the main road, through alleys, until he reached the last few cottages at the end of the road. The last time they had been searching for a witch, the outskirts is where they had found one. But something told Niklaus that it wasn't going to be so easy this time. Not far past the last cottage the ground disappeared into a deep cliff. Niklaus walked to the edge of the ravine and looked down. Down below was some shutter and the leftovers of what used to be a house. This must have happened recently. Could have to do with a spell gone wrong, he thought. At least that was a start.

Some time later and with no further results he returned to the market square where Elijah was already waiting for him.

"Any luck?" he asked.

Elijah shook his head. "You?"

Niklaus mentioned the destroyed house in the ravine, aware that this was not much to go on.

"Also, something smells funny here," he added.

"I think that is just the 17th century, Niklaus," Elijah said, skeptical.

Niklaus wanted to counter but then something caught his eye. His sister, not far from them, was striding along the main road. He sighed with frustration, and he and Elijah walked up to her. Without a care in the world, Rebekah was looking at the display of a bookshop.

"Why are you not waiting at the inn?" Niklaus asked.

"Because my time is too valuable to sit around for you two," Rebekah said, her focus still on the window display. "I'm looking at books, for God's sake! This is hardly a crime!"

"Where's Kol?" Elijah asked.

"Dunno," Rebekah said, uninterested.

When Elijah scolded her with a reproachful look, she shrugged. "I think he went to the tavern over there."

Elijah and Niklaus gave each other an annoyed glance.

"I'll get him," Elijah said. "Wait here."

After Elijah had gone over the street, Rebekah said: "You two have gotten bossy."

Niklaus found it best not to answer.

Half a minute later Elijah returned, pushing an annoyed Kol in front of him.

"Kol, can you please stay in one place now?" Niklaus asked frustrated.

They weren't supposed to do anything except to talk to the witch. And bringing along Kol and Rebekah was already interfering with history quite a lot. Especially if Kol kept wandering off and mingling with everyone he met.

"Yeah, yeah, I already got a lecture from Elijah," Kol said annoyed.

"Just stay here with us now," Elijah said. "We need to find that witch."

"If you bothered to ask me what I was doing, I could tell you that I just met him," Kol said, waiting for their reaction.

When he decided he built up enough suspense, he added: "There's this man in the tavern, boasting about witchcraft and how he created a ravine through half of the country with magic. I'd say that's him."

Elijah and Niklaus exchanged an excited look.

Elijah grabbed Kol by the collar and pushed him back to the tavern. Niklaus and Rebekah followed swiftly.

After Elijah had smashed the tavern door open and they marched inside one after the other, he said adamantly: "Which one?"

"Well," Kol said, hesitating, "the one over there, whose attention we already have by barging in here like a mad crowd."

At the other end of the room sat a group of men around a small table. The man in the middle, whose eyes were directed at them, rose slowly from his seat. He must have been in his thirties. But Niklaus found human ages hard to tell. He could hear the man's heart beat. It was steady. He wasn't afraid at all.

By now, almost everyone in the bar had noticed them and grew quiet.

Before they could say anything, the barman walked up to them.

"We don't want any trouble from strangers here. I suggest you leave," he said with gritted teeth.

It would have been easy to take him out, together with everyone else in the bar. Elijah gave Niklaus a pleading look. Don't intimidate.

"Right then," Niklaus replied after a pause. "Let's go."

He took Rebekah by the arm and moved outside, followed by Elijah and Kol. Without saying a word they walked over the market square until they reached the houses on the opposite side.

"That was… subtle," Kol said.

"What are we going to do now?" Niklaus asked Elijah.

Niklaus didn't like this. Elijah didn't want to threaten him or anyone else, and now they even lost the element of surprise.

"We'll wait until he comes out, and talk to him when he's alone," Elijah replied.

"He'll expect us," Kol weighed in. "If he is really such a special wizard as you say, he already knows we're trouble."

"Doesn't matter," Elijah replied. "We were going to tell him about us sooner or later in any case."

They waited in the dark of a side alley until the sun set. Every now and then a new figure exited the tavern and walked off, but none of them were the witch. Instead they gained many nasty looks from the villagers passing through. Niklaus wouldn't be surprised if soon the whole village knew they were here. Then, eventually, after another hour passed, the man they were looking for appeared in the door of the tavern. He took a few steps away from them, then stopped. Niklaus couldn't explain it, but it was like the man could sense their presence. He turned around and looked right into the darkness where the siblings were waiting for him.

"I think he knows we're here," Kol said.

"Alright then," Elijah said hesitantly, and gave the others a sign to follow him.

They walked out of the darkness and gave away their location in the light. The man must have waited for that. As soon as he saw them, he steadily paced in their direction. From up close, his face was not what Niklaus had expected. The man almost seemed happy to see them.

"You are some daring vampires," the man said with a laugh when he caught up with them. "Strolling in here, basically announcing who you are, without a worry of werewolves or hunters. I can't tell if you have an ace up your sleeve or are actually that stupid."

With his relaxed posture and his hands in his pockets, the man turned from one to the other and contemplated their faces. Only a few people would dare to face a group of vampires like that. He must be very sure of his powers, Niklaus thought.

"We have come here to talk to you," Elijah said.

"And what in the world gave you the idea that I wanted to talk to you?" the man said. "Vampires are not usually friendly towards my kind."

"Please, we've taken on a long journey just to get here to find you," Elijah pleaded.

"We have come here all the way from America," Kol added.

"Well, half way from America. We had to turn around in the middle of the Atlantic, because my brothers wanted to see you so much," Rebekah weighed in.

"Sounds like quite the journey," the man said, bewildered but amused.

After a pause he asked with interest: "Even half way over the Atlantic they speak of me?"

"They say you're the best witch that has ever lived," Niklaus said.

Elijah looked at his brother with surprise, obviously not expecting his brother to be able to praise strangers.

"Really," the man said pleased. "What else do they say about me?"

"That you managed what nobody before you had. To resurrect the dead."

The man's face grew into a wide smile. "You seem to be some very well informed vampires. Impressive."

"We just need a few minutes of your time," Elijah said.

The man looked from one sibling to the other. "To be honest, I am curious to hear how you have learnt about me and what you could possibly want to tell me. What did you say were you names again?"

Elijah took on the duty to introduce the four of them.

"And you are all siblings?" the man said surprised after they were done. "Four vampire siblings. Cute. I have never seen the likes."

Niklaus had never thought he would ever let anyone talk down on him like this. But they needed him. So he kept his mouth shut.

"Well, vampire siblings," the man said with a boasting voice. "Meet me, Clement, the most powerful wizard alive."

"So, can we ask you a few questions?" Elijah asked again.

"Sure, sure," Clement said with fake disinterest. "But not tonight. It's late. We can meet up tomorrow."

He looked from one to the other, as if he was excepting them to defy him. Niklaus wanted to speak up, but Elijah gave him a nudge.

"Sounds good," Elijah said. "Tomorrow then."

Clement nodded, pleased. "Until tomorrow then."

He gave them small and artificial bow, and a short moment later he walked off into the night.

Niklaus looked at his brother, scandalized. "Why would we wanna wait until tomorrow?"

"Do you want to be thrown over a meadow again just because you pissed off a witch on a first meeting?" Elijah asked drily. "Let's play it right this time. One day more doesn't matter."

They needed the wizard, Niklaus had to remind himself again.

* * *

The next morning the four of them returned to the market square. Clement was already waiting for them. At least the witch was punctual, Elijah thought. When he saw Clement's face, he grew more optimistic. There was a flicker of curiosity and eagerness in Clement's eyes that told Elijah he was just as interested in talking to them as vice versa. When they caught up with him, he gave them a gesture to follow. They walked with him through a narrow alley until they reached a small road with more houses. In front of one of the houses he stopped.

When they all had caught up, he said: "This is where we live."

Clement led the way through a small garden with herbs and plants and opened the door into the house. They entered in a small but cozy living room, adjacent to the kitchen. A woman holding a toddler and a boy appeared in the kitchen door and looked at them curiously. This must be the family that Clement had resurrected, Elijah thought. They looked normal and healthy. The sight of them alone gave Elijah hope.

"Those are my wife and children. They don't speak your language, but they were excited to hear that we will have guests today."

With her free arm, the woman ushered them to come to the kitchen.

"Why don't you and Kol go with her, while we talk to Clement?" Elijah asked Rebekah.

Rebekah and Kol didn't seem to mind and followed the excited woman into the kitchen, while Clement, Elijah and Niklaus stayed back.

"One of the few downsides of this resurrection thing," Clement said sadly, "is that most people in the village have become very wary to talk to her. She scares them. They just don't understand."

Elijah had no trouble to see how this could happen. They had faced rejection because of what they were their whole life. The three of them sat down in the small living room. The smell of fire coming from the kitchen was oddly familiar.

Suddenly, Niklaus gave Elijah a nudge in his ribs. It looked like Niklaus tried to say something with his eyes. He was hinting at something in the kitchen. Elijah couldn't tell what he meant. In any case, Elijah deemed it more important to pay attention to Clement now, and motioned Nik to stop it. When Clement looked up ready to talk, Nik seemed to have given up and listened as well.

"So, what do you want to know?" Clement asked.

"How did you do it?" Elijah asked. "Resurrecting your family?"

Clement considered him for a moment. "Is that common curiosity or do you want to repeat the spell?"

Elijah hesitated. Something in Clement's voice told him that he was disapproving of the latter.

Before Elijah could reply, he added: "If you want to repeat it, I have to tell you I can't help you with that. I needed a lot of powers for that, and I won't be able to do it again for a long time. And more importantly, this spell is deeply personal and, you see, I wouldn't be able to help you to recover anybody to their last living self that I don't know."

"We don't need your help in that way," Elijah said quickly. "We already have a witch that can help us. We just need to know how you did it so we can copy it."

Clement laughed. "You have a witch strong enough to perform a spell like this? I don't want to brag - although I do that quite often - but witches that powerful don't come about that easily."

"We noticed," Niklaus said.

"The thing we don't understand about the spell is how did you expand it to more than one person? It was supposed to be for one person, a soulmate, wasn't it?"

"That is correct," Clement replied. "I expanded it to my whole family. Since they were all of my blood, except my wife, it was easy to duplicate the powers. And my wife, my soulmate, was easy to add on."

"But doesn't that make it harder, with so many family members?" Elijah asked.

Clement smiled. "No, that's the beauty of the spell. The more people involved who care about each other, the stronger the bond gets, the easier it is to build a bridge. The more the merrier."

"Who do you want to bring back?" Clement asked carefully.

"Our siblings," Elijah replied in a low voice, although with some hesitation.

Lying in a situation like this just seemed dangerous. He didn't want to be misunderstood in their endeavours. And he needed Clement to know everything so he could help them.

"You have more of them?"

Elijah exchanged a look with Niklaus. He didn't know what to say either. Telling the whole truth would take too long, and Elijah would never dare to do that with Kol and Rebekah so close by.

Through the doorway, he could see that Rebekah and Kol had been introduced to the children.

"I don't want to hold it. I don't know what to do with it," Kol said irritated.

"Just hold on to it. That's all there is to it," Rebekah replied, while Kol stood there uncomfortably with the toddler in his hands that tried to make funny acrobatic figures over his head.

Clement nodded. In a weird way, Elijah thought, the man understood. Elijah couldn't explain how Clement could possibly grasp what they were going through, but he didn't press the question anymore.

Instead Clement continued: "But the spell should be much harder for you, if not impossible. I don't want to be indecent, but you're dead. I could bring my children back over the bridge because, apart from an emotional blood, I also had a blood bond with them. Blood is a very delicate thing. Your undead blood won't be any use for a spell like that."

Elijah looked to Nik again, who came to the same conclusion.

"Freya," he said.

"That shouldn't be a problem either," Elijah said to Clement.

Clement looked back and forth between them with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. "You are telling me you also have living relatives at your leisure? You are truly curious creatures. Vampire siblings, dead siblings, living relatives. If you ever finish your quest on saving your siblings you should come back so I can study you. I have the feeling both of our parties would profit from that."

"I would only be too happy to share power and knowledge," Niklaus said, almost dreamily.

His brother sounded a bit too serious. Elijah worried that Niklaus was already planning to save Clement and get him into the future somehow. Clement seemed much easier to work with than what they ever had experienced in witches.

Then Clement sat up straight and said: "I tell you what. It might be primarily my own curiosity, but I wanna see if you can succeed. I'll tell you exactly what I did."

Elijah almost couldn't believe that they had succeeded. This had gone surprisingly easy. What followed were precise instructions to spells, and ingredients they needed. Elijah double-checked almost everything he heard. It had never been so vital to understand every bit of detail in his whole life. Every now and then he checked if Niklaus was listening too, but luckily his brother was fully aware of the importance of this conversation. The discussion must have gone at least two hours. In the meantime, Kol and Rebekah had gone outside to the garden with Clement's family and were playing a game with the boy. Just as Clement was done explaining, and Elijah was sure he could remember every bit of detail, they had returned back inside. It was an intricate spell, but it seemed manageable. It must work if they had managed to get this far.

Clement seemed exhausted, and even Elijah had to admit that it was best to finish the discussion now.

"Thanks again," Elijah said again, as the four of them made their way through the door.

"And you're sure you don't want to write any of this down?" Clement asked.

"It wouldn't be of much use," Elijah replied.

They said their goodbyes and left through the garden.

"Elijah," Nik whispered as they walked between the garden patches, when everyone else was out of earshot.

Elijah remembered Nik's concerned face from before, and turned to his brother.

"The mother," he added.

Elijah turned back to the woman. She stood at the door not far from them, waving goodbye with a happy smile.

"What about her?" Elijah asked.

"She looks awfully familiar, doesn't she?" Nik added. "Don't you see the resemblance?"

Until now Elijah hadn't spent a second on actually looking at her face. How did he not notice it before? That face. It wasn't Briony's, but it resembled hers a lot.

"How…" he began. His head tried to figure out how this made sense.

Then his eyes fell on the toddler.

"Oh no," he whispered.

* * *

 _ **I hope you liked it! Personally I'm a big sucker for time travel sequences. Let me know what you think in the comments!**_


	47. Time & Forgiveness

**_Rural Ireland, 1652_**

His head bouncing from one side to the other, Niklaus watched Elijah's fidgety steps across the barn. His brother would never admit to it, but none of this was going to plan anymore. Not when they might be messing up the future of a toddler that is supposed to help them in the present day. After the meeting with Clement, they had rushed out of the village and found an empty barn to talk. This time they didn't even have to think of an excuse to get rid off Kol and Rebekah. In the meantime, their siblings had given up on getting into their brothers' secrets, and decided to have fun without them.

"What are we going to do?" Niklaus asked, wringing his hands.

"What can we do?" Elijah replied. "This is not our time, Nik."

Niklaus would agree in other circumstances. Don't mess up the timeline, he was told. But he was afraid that they had already done that. And then, there was an even bigger issue.

"Why didn't Briony tell us?" Niklaus asked. "About this being her family?"

"I don't think she knows about it," Elijah said. "She is still a toddler here. I doubt she will have any memories of anything that will happen to her father. Maybe her mother never told her about it."

When they had met Briony in Wales, she had said she had lived there all her life. But Elijah might be right. If toddler Briony left soon after their meeting she wouldn't have any memories of Ireland in her later life.

"But they're going to die, aren't they?" Nik asked.

This didn't make any sense. How could Briony be related to Clement and his family when they were about to die?

"Should we interfere? Stop it from happening?" he suggested.

"We can't," Elijah said. "We don't know what the consequences would be. She told us that herself."

"Come on, she said that without knowing how personal this was going to be."

"I don't know what to tell you. But this is definitely in the territory of big things that we can mess up. We don't know what we'd change. Let history run its course, okay?" Elijah said.

Niklaus paced the room. Letting things run their course was not his strength. Especially if the most likely outcome looked so bleak.

His brother must have felt how Niklaus thought about this.

"I think we should leave right now," Elijah added in an unconvincingly calm voice. "Let's go back to the present time before we mess up anything else."

"Wait, wait, wait," Niklaus said agitated. "Are you sure? What if we already messed up something big?"

If a mistake had already happened, they had to fix it first. Niklaus didn't want to leave if he wasn't sure it was the right thing to do.

Elijah hesitated. "I don't know. But we might make it worse if we stay here any longer."

Niklaus wanted to counter, but Elijah interrupted him: "Let's put any rash feelings or emotional responses aside. Do you really think we can improve this situation by meddling more with these people? It might very well be that we messed something up, true. But if it has already happened, I doubt we can reverse it. Do you?"

This was not right. Niklaus felt it. If they left now, they wouldn't know what traces they left back in the past and what future they came back to. And if they waited much longer and Clement gets killed they might not even be able to decide anymore. He considered to what length he was protecting his own family. And here they were letting Briony's being slaughtered, even though it'd be pretty easy to save them.

"But how are they supposed to get away?" Niklaus asked. "You said that everybody related to the wizard was killed."

He put a lot of accusational emphasis on the 'you'.

"Briony said she had been raised by her mother, so she should be fine," Elijah said.

"But the whole family is supposed to burn at the stake. I remember it. That's why we didn't search for any progenies of his the last time."

"Maybe they fled in secrecy. They must have. We can't interfere," Elijah said. "Niklaus, we have prepared this. Clement's going to die in roughly a year. That event will lead to so many other events that it would be suicidal if we tried to change it."

Niklaus bit his lip and watched his brother with great dread. He couldn't think of any other arguments to help Clement's family, but that didn't mean he agreed.

"How about this," Elijah started, "tomorrow we'll go through the whole village, and sire each and every one of them to forget about us being here. Then we'll go on to the neighbouring villages, just to make sure that nobody has any memories of us being here. It will be like we had never been here and none of what will happen can be our fault."

"It's a start," Niklaus mumbled.

But that didn't solve the other issue. Niklaus wasn't worried that it was going to be his fault. If only he could stop it from happening at all.

Frustrated Niklaus barged out of the shed. After a few angry steps he stopped. Going any further would not help. Who knew what else he could change. Freya had been right, this was an absurdly dangerous plan.

He sunk down in the grass and absent-mindedly ripped out some leaves.

Suddenly, a wooden branch hit his chest, bounced off and fell down next to him. Startled he looked up.

"Catch," Rebekah said with smug smile, a few feet away from him.

"You're supposed to say 'catch' before you throw," he replied.

Slowly she strode up to him through the grass. "Aren't you always a step ahead of everybody? I just wanted to put it to the test."

He tried hard to appreciate his sister while they were together, but in moments like these it was not easy.

"Weren't you and Kol off to find some entertainment? Somewhere else?"

Rebekah sat down next to him. "We were. Turns out nothing exciting ever happens in this village. So I decided to come back and annoy you."

He didn't reply.

"You're actually upset," Rebekah said, first amused but then turning kind.

"What is it?" she asked.

Niklaus hesitated. He didn't know who else he could turn to.

"So let's say I made a promise to someone. But the person to whom I made the promise wasn't aware that this might have a negative effect on them. So, should I act out of the person's best interest and ignore the promise, even though I'm not sure what the result will be?"

Rebekah looked at him confused.

"Wait, is this about something you promised to me?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No," Niklaus said.

"To Elijah?" she asked.

"No." Figuring out who would be next, he added: "None of our brothers."

"Who else do you make promises to that you actually care this much about?" Rebekah asked, bewildered.

Niklaus sighed frustrated. "It's complicated. You're not helping me at all."

"'It's complicated?'" Rebekah lit up. "That is code for girl. What girl are you seeing and how am I only hearing about this now? In fact, why are we even here in the middle of this swamp when there's a girl somewhere waiting for you. I want to meet her!"

"It's nothing like that. Why do I even bother trying to explain anything to you," Niklaus tried to get up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Rebekah said, laughing and holding him back. "I'm trying to help now, I promise. So you made a promise to your girl…"

"Not my girl," he interrupted her drily.

"Fine, we can figure out your pet names for each other later. So you promised her something and you know that fulfilling that promise will harm her."

"I don't know for sure. It very much looks like it. Perhaps I'm wrong and everything will be fine. But what if it won't? What if I was right here, having a chance at saving everything and didn't, because I hesitated and followed a stupid promise?"

"And you're worried that if you _break_ the promise, and it doesn't work out as you plan, you make everything worse?" Rebekah concluded.

"Exactly," he replied.

Rebekah considered him for a moment. "If you actually plan to act out of her best interest - not yours - I don't think you can make it worse. If you truly mean it I think she'll forgive you."

"Forgiveness is not what I'm after. You're misreading the whole situation."

"I don't think so," she winked. "Just follow your gut," she added.

He doubted that she had understood a word from what he tried to explain. But her advice was useful nonetheless. She was right. Following his gut usually was the right choice. Right now his gut told him to stop anything bad from happening, and deal with the consequences later. But his gut also told him to listen to Elijah.

The dilemma made his head hurt.

For now Elijah's plan was at least on the right track. Tomorrow they'd go door to door and erase any memories that village might have of them. Maybe until they were through, his gut could make up his mind on what to do next. There wouldn't be too much harm to wait until tomorrow.

A few hours later, the sun had set over the valley surrounding the village. It was an unusually warm evening for that time of the year, and any other day Niklaus might have enjoyed that. But not with everything that was going on. And things were about to get worse.

"There you are!" Kol said agitated, as he walked towards the shed with fast steps. "I've been looking for you all over the village!"

"What's going on?" Elijah asked.

"Haven't you heard?" Kol asked. "There's this big brawl on the market square about Clement. The villagers disapprove of the witchcraft and of what he's done. They have become suspicious because of us being here. Apparently, it was the last straw to condemn him and his family. I think they want to burn him."

"Did you try to stop them?" Elijah asked. "Sire them?"

"That's the thing," Kol said. "I tried. It only worked on maybe a handful of them. The rest, the mob mostly, seemed to be immune against it. And when they realized what I was trying to do they only go angrier. That's when I decided to get you."

Niklaus looked at Elijah reproachfully. "We have to do something!"

"Wait!" Elijah pleaded to him. "This is supposed to happen, don't you see? He is going to burn at the stake no matter what!"

He didn't seem to care anymore if Kol heard him or not.

"No," Niklaus said determined. "He was supposed to die in a year. Not today!"

Kol interrupted them: "Shouldn't we do something right now? You are aware that as soon as they're done with him they go for his family next."

Unsure, he added: "I'm still not one hundred per cent sure why we're here, but those people showed quite a bit of hospitality towards us. Am I overestimating our usual decency, or are we really just letting them get slaughtered?"

"Where are they now?" Rebekah asked who had quickly sprung to her feet.

Kol turned to her instead. "They dragged Clement to the market square, and I saw his wife and children escape."

"Can you find them again?"

"Sure," Kol said. "I'll go after them and you go to the market square."

Rebekah nodded. Then she turned to Niklaus and Elijah. "One of you with me."

Without another word Kol and Rebekah sped off into different directions.

Nik looked at Elijah helplessly.

"I don't know," Elijah said, insecure. "But you're right, it is our fault that the town people are coming after them."

"We have to interfere," Nik said. "If something happens to that baby, I'm not sure what we are going back to."

Elijah nodded. "You're right. Go help Rebekah and stop those people from the village, I'll follow Kol and we'll get the baby and the mother."

They split up.

With full speed, Niklaus arrived at the main square a few moments later. The small place was filled with people, shouting and pushing each other. It was an angry and heated atmosphere, but the villagers seemed completely aware of what they were about to do. Most of them faced towards the centre of the square, but it was too crowded that Niklaus could see anything. He didn't have any time to locate Clement, when suddenly a hand grabbed him and smashed him on the ground. It was Rebekah's.

"Watch out!" she shouted.

As he pushed to the ground something pointy seared passed him close by.

"You're supposed to say that before you tackle someone to the ground," he replied, as he climbed on his feet again, trying to locate where the attack came from.

Rebekah pulled him away from his spot to a brick wall cornering the market square.

"What was that?" he asked her, gaping around the corner to watch the mob.

"Poisonous spear. Werewolf venom I guess." She held out her arm that gashed a huge dark, almost black wound without any indication that it was going to heal.

"Are you okay?" he asked shocked.

"I'm fine. It barely touched me. My question is though how they are prepared like this."

"They knew we were coming," Niklaus concluded.

Among the mob it was hard to make anyone out. Eventually, his view found the middle of the square with a long pole erected. Clement must be there. There was no smoke, no burning, so he must still be alive.

"Look, there," Rebekah pointed to a roof across from them.

Up on the roof stood a man with a very elaborate cross bow with a spear attached. Next to him stood a few more with the same gear. They were scouting the grounds in all directions.

"I distract them," Rebekah suggested, "you get to the middle and save Clement."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Those spears will hurt you much more than they'll hurt me."

"I'll be fine. Besides, you're stronger and will get to the middle faster than me. Just don't lose too much time, please."

He nodded.

A second later Rebekah sped off again and climbed up to a roof across of the attackers. The moment the attackers turned their eyes on her, Niklaus jumped out of his hiding place and threw himself into the crowd. He managed to push a handful of them out of his way until they noticed who, or rather what he was and began to resist. One or two of them were no match of his, but as they all started to fight and push him at the same time, he had more trouble to fight them off than he would have liked. Kol was right, something was off about these people. They couldn't be sired, and they were stronger than most people Niklaus had encountered. Step by step, he fought his way to the centre. There was no chance to see if Rebekah was still okay, but considering that he wasn't hit by any spears yet she must still be distracting them.

Eventually, as he had almost reached the pole, he saw Clement. He was heavily bruised and tied to the pole. Clement hadn't seen him yet, but he was looking into his direction, clearly following the brawl that Niklaus created. Just when Niklaus had almost reached the middle, a heavy metal hand pushed him on the ground. He had never experienced anything like it. There was no way that a normal human could do this. With his face in the dirt, he grasped for the arm hovering above him and ripped it from wherever it came from. As soon as the pressure on his neck and head had gone, he jumped up into a standing position.

A loud piercing scream echoed through the masses. It came from very close by. He knew immediately that it was Clement. He was on fire. With all his might, Niklaus tackled himself into a standing position and threw the few people in front of him out of his way.

A second later he had reached the pole in the middle. It was too late. All that was left of Clement was a few bones and ash still simmering. How could this have happened so fast?

Somewhat struck by confusion, Niklaus stared into the flames, wondering how long he had been on the ground.

Then he remembered where he was. There was nothing he could do anymore. Without paying anymore attention to what was happening around him, he turned around and rushed away.

Outside the village, he met Rebekah. She didn't seem to be harmed any further.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. Her arm had turned darker in the mean time. "You?"

Trying to shake off the pain in his neck, he shook his head. "There was nothing I could do. They were too many."

She nodded sadly.

"Come on, they will go for the family next. Let's find the others," she added.

It didn't take them long to find Elijah and Kol. From their faces, Niklaus could tell that their mission was already over.

"What happened?" Rebekah asked without breath.

"Mother and baby fled. They're fine. No one will go after them," Elijah said.

"How do you know?" Niklaus asked.

"There were two men with axes following them but we stopped them. Nobody else knew where they were going. They should be fine."

Just as history was supposed to happen. Nobody even knows they're alive. Sad but relieved, Niklaus nodded.

"What about the boy?" Rebekah asked.

Elijah and Niklaus looked at her surprised.

"You did not forget that Clement also had a boy, right?" she asked reproachfully.

Niklaus exchanged look with Elijah. The boy had not crossed his mind at all.

"Of course not," Kol said. "But he was with Clement. At least I think that was what the woman tried tell us. She was very upset."

Rebekah turned to Niklaus. "Did you see the boy on the market square?"

"I didn't see anything," he replied.

Rebekah thought for a moment. "It could be he was there. I'm not sure. Everything happened so quickly."

"He must have been there. There was no way that woman would have left if there was any chance for the boy to survive," Kol weighed in.

Rebekah nodded. "You're right."

There was nothing else they could do here. It was time to leave. After they had returned to the barn to retrieve their belongings, Rebekah loudly proclaimed that she and everyone else now deserved to go to the Americas. Niklaus didn't object. As she and Kol had gone outside and walked down the path leading to the forest, Elijah held Niklaus back.

"The moment to leave. This is it," Elijah said.

Niklaus was still rooted at the spot, but he knew his brother was right.

It was hard to say anything. He didn't want to leave. It was scary to go back. Why did everything in the 17th century feel so much simpler?

His head hurt. Maybe forgiveness is what he has been after nevertheless. Elijah's forgiveness. That's why he tried to follow his brother's commands, didn't he? But did that actually help? Sure, talking to Elijah had been much easier in the last few days than before. Being here in the 17th century, away from all the drama, certainly helped. But what was it going to be like when they returned to the 21st century? With reality thrown back into their lives, Elijah might return to his earlier disdain for his brother.

Perhaps Niklaus shouldn't have followed his brother's commands at all. For the relationship with his brother it might not have even made a difference. Part of him regretted it now. If he did what he thought was right from the beginning, Clement might still be alive. He hoped Briony would forgive him for that. If they ever decided to tell her what had happened here.

Niklaus still gazed at Kol and Rebekah through the door who by now have almost been out of sight.

"We'll see them again," he agreed. "Let's go home."

* * *

 _ **Yay, two chapters in the same months - almost back on track! As said before, I'm slowly getting towards the end here: I'd like not to put a number on it because I was usually way off about that but my guess is around 10 chapters more. If you're still reading: Thank you! By now, I feel like I'm mostly finishing this for myself because I get too invested in my own stories. But if you feel up to it, still let me know what you think! I appreciate it! Tudelu and until next time.**_


	48. An Emotional Bond

_**Present Day**_

"Did it work? Have you learnt everything about the spell?" Briony jumped at them, the second they woke up.

They were back in the mansion in New Orleans, back in the present. Lifting himself onto his elbows, Elijah nodded dizzily.

"Yes, we got it, and everything remembered."

Briony smiled, sprang up and ran over to the desk. A second later she was back and held pen and paper into Elijah's and Niklaus' faces. Elijah assumed it she wanted everything written down immediately.

Somewhat unsteadily, Elijah took pen and paper from her, sat up and looked around. They were still in the boarded up living room. Through the light that shone through the cracks, he could tell it was day. But nothing gave any indication on how long they had been away. Next to him, Niklaus had sat up as well.

"Did you change anything?" There was a trace of nervousness in Briony's voice.

Elijah quickly glanced over to Niklaus. They hadn't decided on how much they wanted to tell her. From his brother's disconcerted look down to his hands, Elijah was sure that Niklaus was close to tell her everything.

To Elijah's surprise, his brother suddenly said: "No."

Briony scanned them warily. "Somehow I don't believe you. But it doesn't matter. If you messed up something big, we would have noticed."

A dry, burnt up smell crept into Elijah's nose. Something in the house must have been on fire. Elijah glanced around the room to find the source of it, but couldn't see anything suspicious.

Briony noticed what he was looking for. "Some of the trees burnt down in the garden. Werewolves showed up at one point, delivering a message. We needed a diversion. Davina and I frightened them away."

Elijah wasn't sure if the burnt down trees were part of the message, or Briony's and Davina's scaring away tactics, but he didn't bother to ask.

"How much time has passed since we left?" Nik asked.

"Two weeks," Briony said.

"And, how was it?!" Elijah had only noticed Davina now, sitting on the chair behind them, watching them with an air of mysticism.

Before he could answer, Briony interrupted: "Not now. First you write down everything. Then you can talk."

In the next half hour Elijah wrote down everything he had remembered. He could have done it in half of the time. Ever since they had talked with Clement he had kept repeating the whole conversation in his head. But just to make sure, he went through everything three times and wrote down any detail he could think of, even gestures and side remarks from Clement, in case they meant anything to Briony. Next to him, Niklaus had been doing the same, but assuming from the many breaks he took, his brother was somewhat distracted.

After they were done, Briony collected both of their records. After a swift glance over both, she said, side-eyeing Nik: "Elijah used twice the amount of paper. No surprise there."

"I wrote down everything that was important," Niklaus said, offended.

"Uh-huh," Briony mumbled, while focusing on Elijah's notes.

Elijah remembered his annoyance for Niklaus during the discussion with Clement because his brother was so distracted. But now he felt some sympathy for him, because his distraction seem to stem from an actual worry. Elijah couldn't quite pinpoint why his brother was struggling so much with the fact that they had to lie to Briony. It was necessary to go on with the spell. From all his siblings, Niklaus would usually be the most rational in cases like this. And it wasn't that Elijah didn't care about Briony. But they had prioritize now. What happened to Clement was already in the past. Saving their siblings was still a very real possibility in the future. And it didn't make sense to jeopardize that, only that Briony would know a truth she couldn't change. The only reason Elijah could think of, that would explain his brother's sudden irrational acts, was that Niklaus liked Briony a bit too much. The idea gave him a shudder. He already dreaded the outcome if this prediction ever rang true.

"Where's Freya?" Elijah asked, noticing her absence.

Davina and Briony exchanged a guilty look.

"She left a week ago," Briony said with some hesitation. "Same old tune. Doesn't want to help with a crime against nature. Thinks she's better off on her own. But let her. We don't need to force her to be part of this if she doesn't want to. I say you made her life difficult enough already."

"About that…," Elijah began, remembering the spell and what they needed for it. "Perhaps read our notes first."

For the next few hours, Briony had disappeared in her room to study their records. Elijah used this time to inspect the state of the rest of the house. There was still a gaping a hole in the kitchen where rain must have been dripping inside in the last few weeks. The walls around it were humid and mouldy, and there was dirt and wet debris everywhere. It looked like nobody had used this room in a long time. Elijah doubted that it could ever be fixed. He didn't have much need to do so anyway. He wanted to leave this place. Returning after their excursion in time felt like a return to a place he had no desire to return to. At first, he thought it had to do with the situation they were in - dead siblings and all - but as he walked through the run down mansion, he realized it had also to do with this place. It was time to move on.

After a shower to get rid off the 17th century, Elijah went down to the living room, where somebody had already taken off some of the boards on the windows.

"How was it?" Davina asked.

She sat on the sofa chair again, clearly awaiting his or his brother's return downstairs.

"Excuse me?" Elijah asked.

"The time travel?" Davina replied with a matter of obviousness.

"It didn't quite feel like time travel, and more like returning to somewhere you've already been."

Davina barely registered his reply, and then asked: "Also, how was it to meet one of the most powerful wizards in the world?"

Until Elijah hadn't thought about Clement like that. "I was just happy to find the one person who could help us. Besides that, he was a pretty normal guy with a family and a house."

Davina nodded intrigued with a smile. "And how was he? As a person I mean?"

"Nice," Elijah said, reconsidering his simple choice of words. "Surprisingly helpful, actually."

Davina studied him. "Too bad he didn't make it much longer then. I would have felt less sorry for using his spell with him dying shortly afterwards, if that guy was a jerk."

"Yeah," Elijah said nervously.

He doubted that Davina was on to anything, but he'd rather stop talking to her about Clement.

To avoid any more conversation, Elijah walked over to windows and took off the last boards. The room immediately turned brighter and friendlier, but also exposed the terrible state it was in.

Davina watched him for a while, then she said: "Being nice might have been his downfall. Helpful witches and wizards have never been treated well in history."

"You are very right with that," he replied. Then he added with a smile: "Are you worried that you are too nice?"

Davina considered him. "Being nice to some people usually means being terrible to others, so I'm not sure where that puts me."

As an outsider, being on his family's side was usually the worst you could be, Elijah thought. At least from the world's point of view. But if you didn't end up as a casualty, you'd often come out on top. He figured those were the two outcomes that Davina could look forward to. Telling her that felt too bleak though.

After nightfall, Briony still hadn't come out of her room. Neither Elijah nor the others had any idea if that meant something good or bad, so they decided to check in on her.

"So, what do you think?" Elijah asked, after they had surrounded her in her room.

Briony sat on her bed and looked up surprised, not having noticed them standing in front of her. Around her, she had already scribbled on different sheets of paper, collecting notes.

After a pause she said thoughtfully: "You're right, we need to get back Freya. But after that, we should be right on track. This could actually work."

"And you think you can do it?" Elijah asked, and sat down next to her.

Briony nodded. "With some preparation, I believe so. However, there are a few details we have to talk about. For instance, about the purpose of the spell. Elijah wrote that the wizard, Clement, said that the spell will bring the person back to his last state before death."

She looked at him, waiting.

"Yes?" Elijah said, nodding in agreement.

"Nik hasn't mentioned it at all in his notes," she turned to Nik instead. "And since it's a pretty important piece of information we need to be sure. Is that what he said?"

Niklaus considered her for a moment. "It will bring the person back to their last state before death. Yes, I remember, that's one of the first things he said," he confirmed.

Briony nodded, wrote something down and then asked: "Did Clement say anything about the consequences? About what will happen to rebalance the earth?"

Elijah shook his head. "No, I don't think so. He didn't say anything about that."

Niklaus agreed with him, and after a pause, he added: "There was a recently created ravine, close to the village, that had also taken down some houses. I'm pretty sure it had to do with the spell."

Briony gaped at him. "Ravines. Okay. We won't do this in New Orleans then. Since we're trying to resurrect three people, just the way he did, we can expect similar consequences."

She turned to her notes again and scribbled something down. Niklaus gave Elijah a nudge. Right, they hadn't told her about Finn yet. That was an idea that had come up after they had talked to Clement. Clement had told them that the spell got stronger the more people were involved. This was just perfect to bring all their siblings back. If they had the chance they wanted to reunite their whole family.

Elijah spoke slowly, hoping it would not upset her: "Since Clement said the spell gets stronger, the more people are involved, we thought we could include Finn."

Briony raised her eyebrows, then turned to Niklaus with the same disbelieving expression.

"You don't have a strong emotional bond with Finn," she said bluntly.

Elijah and Niklaus exchanged a scandalized look.

"Excuse me?" Elijah said. "He's our brother!"

Briony tried to sound diplomatic as possible. "Rebekah and Kol - no questions asked, they'll be fine. Marcel is more than fine, too." She quickly glanced to Niklaus and Davina. "But Finn? Every few decades you spent some time with him when you argued most of the time. How would you even think that this would be enough?"

Elijah and Niklaus both glared at her, terribly offended.

"You don't actually know him," she added. "What were his hobbies? Where did he go when he was sad? His favourite book? I bet you can't answer any of these questions. The only one I can remember that had ever spent some quality time with Finn was Rebekah. Hell, even Kol tried harder to connect with him on an emotional level than you two."

"That's not true. Both of us tried to reach out to him many times. I often tried to connect to him," Niklaus said.

"Maybe so. But the connection you tried to build was purely ideological. You wanted him to understand you and what you were and vice versa. That has nothing to do with an emotional bond you can compare to soulmates."

"What was Kol's favourite book then?" he asked defiantly.

"The Brothers Karamazov," she said without blinking.

Niklaus looked like he was preparing a retort in his head, but apparently couldn't think of anything.

"That doesn't mean anything. We still had a bond to Finn," Elijah said, affronted.

"That's not good enough," Briony replied. "I'm not trying to undermine your relationship as brothers, but you did not have an emotional bond to him. I've seen you with him, and honestly, I'd have more hopes that you two could resurrect me with an emotional bond."

"But you said the spell would be stronger with more people." Davina weighed in. "Wouldn't it make sense to at least try and add him?"

"Well, yes," Briony said. "It just seems precarious to jeopardize the spell with half baked bonds."

For a moment the room was quiet. Niklaus still glared at her, offended, while Davina stared helplessly at the notes spread over the bed.

"I have an idea," Elijah said suddenly.

"I'm not saying I agree with Briony about our emotional bond with Finn," Elijah added, giving a Briony a reproachful look. "But for the sake of the argument that she is right, and that we do need a stronger bond to Finn…"

"Yes?" Niklaus asked, hopeful.

"I know where we can find one."

* * *

"Can't it be me who goes to France?" Niklaus suggested in great objection.

Elijah gave a skeptical laugh. "You think you're the right person to persuade Flora to come out of a convent she has been in for over 90 years, and convince her to commit to the biggest crimes against nature anyone has ever done?"

Niklaus shrugged. On a spectrum of terrible to absolutely horrendous, Elijah might get along slightly better with Flora. But if Flora had cared about any of them, she wouldn't have disappeared the second Finn had gone. "I don't know why you think you'll be so successful."

The only person that he had actually trusted to persuade Flora to change her mind would have been Rebekah. That thought wasn't very helpful.

Niklaus was even less in favour of the plan when he realized what the rest entailed. Elijah had suggested that Briony would go along with him, since between the three of them she had spent the most time with Flora. Also, Elijah had added, that seeing Briony alive might give Flora an impulse and wish for the same to happen to Finn. But Niklaus had the feeling that this might not be the whole truth.

When they had a moment alone, he asked Elijah: "Are you worried that I'm going to tell Briony about how we met, and consequentially killed her father? Is this why you want me to stay here?"

"I want you to stay here," Elijah said in a frustrated tone, "because I need you to find Freya, and bring her back. I can't do everything by myself."

That's what they had agreed upon. Or rather what Elijah had decided for him. They still needed Freya to come back. So, Niklaus and Davina were given the task to find Freya, and persuade her to offer her blood for the spell.

"But you're still worried about the other thing," Nik said, not letting go.

"Don't make this more complicated than it already is, Nik. Do you really want Briony to have a grudge against us, now that we're so close?" With that, Elijah threw the last things in his bag for the trip.

Niklaus shrugged. "Of course not. It just seems a bit heartless to not even mention that we met her in the past."

Elijah paused, as he zipped his bag. He hesitated. "At least we know now that she's capable of performing the spell. Her father did, so she should be able to do it as well. Tell her after the spell if you must."

It was useless. Elijah wouldn't listen. With a sigh, Niklaus marched out of his brother's room and descended the stairs. He was terribly frustrated about his Elijah's lack of understanding. How could he care so little about this?

Downstairs, a few travel bags were already propped up besides the door. Next to them stood a nervous Briony, carrying a small bag and a coat, ready for the trip.

"What were you two fighting about again?" Briony asked.

"Nothing," Niklaus said, frustrated.

"If it's any consolation, I don't want to go to France either. I'm not looking forward to my first plane ride. Seems very unsafe, in a box so high in the sky. I'd rather go by boat."

"Nobody travels to Europe by boat anymore, Briony. You'll be fine. The faster you're in France and get Flora to come back, the faster we can get on with the spell and get back to normal. And eventually, you can even go back to annoy me, and plan to murder me. The good old days."

Briony smiled and opened her mouth to what was surely a snappy retort, but then paused. Instead her face grew serious, almost solemn.

With deep earnestness, she said: "I never tried to kill you. I never wanted to kill you. I hope you know that."

The sudden change in tone was unsettling. This was not the time to have a talk about this. Not with her and Elijah almost out of the door. But Niklaus needed to know.

Hesitantly, he asked: "What were you planning to do with me, back then?"

 _Back then when I killed you_ , he finished in his head, but he didn't want to say it. It sounded wrong. As if a completely different person had done it in the past. A person he didn't like very much right now.

Briony paused. "We can talk about it when I get back. But believe me when I say I wasn't going to kill you. That's only what the coven that helped me had thought."

A moment later Elijah came downstairs, and he and Briony left for the airport. Niklaus stayed back and thought about Briony's words. He had no reason not to believe her.

He was convinced that the following week with the tiny witch and the annoying sister, if they found her, was going to be dreadful, so he wanted it to pass as quickly as possible. Luckily, Davina had not much trouble finding out where Freya was. A simple location spell told them that Freya was in Miami. Niklaus was surprised that Freya hadn't taken any precautions against being found. Also that she was still so close from them. It gave him hope that it might not be so hard to persuade her after all.

"You can watch the house while I'm gone," he said, as he got ready to leave.

"Like that is ever going to happen," Davina said drily. "I'm coming with."

"No," he said.

After everything, he didn't want to babysit an inquisitive witch.

"Come on, I don't wanna wait here, sitting ducks, while so much is at stake. Also, I might be useful in persuading Freya to come back. She trusts me."

"I think you blew that trust on more than one occasion."

"At least she trusts me more than you."

Niklaus considered her. The last bit was definitely true.

"Alright," he said, "but some ground rules. First of all, we're doing this my way. I don't wanna argue my way to Miami. Two, no witchy tricks. And don't go through my stuff," Nik said.

"Why would I do that?" Davina said drily. And somewhat bemused, she asked: "Who do you usually have to deal with this way?"

A short time later, they were ready to leave. As they exited the house, Niklaus wondered if he should even bother to lock the door. It looked terribly run down. And if anyone wanted to break in, they could easily enter through the hole in the kitchen. Not that anybody should bother. There was nothing left worth stealing. He was sure that Elijah and Briony had taken anything important with them, and Niklaus carried everything he cared about on him as well. Now that they left, he realized that he wouldn't care less if the house burned down while they were away. When all of this was done, they'd go somewhere else. He had enough of New Orleans.

Davina took him out of his thoughts, as the house disappeared on the road behind them in the distance.

"So," Davina asked curiously, "what happened in the past that you don't wanna tell us about?"

"What do you mean?" Niklaus asked in defiance.

"Before you two left, Elijah was still pissed off about what you did. But ever since you returned, it seems that you are much angrier with him than he is with you."

"None of your business," he said. "And I'm pretty sure he is still angry."

He could feel Davina's eyes pierce through him. "If you caused something terrible to happen in the past - and I take it, you did - it is pretty irresponsible that you don't tell anyone about it. Since the whole mission is so important, it would be very stupid to leave anything out. Who knows what a small detail could change. But what do I know - I'm just the witch trainee here." With an artificial shrug, she turned away again.

"Nothing terrible happened. At least nothing that was not supposed to happen."

Davina didn't seem to believe him, but that didn't bother him. What bothered him was what she said. Disregarding the emotional aspect he wasn't sure on how to deal with, it did seem irresponsible not to tell anyone about it. He had never heard anything like it, but what if a spell performed by two people of the same family had influence on the outcome?

He was deep in his thoughts until he realized they had left New Orleans a while ago. The thought occurred to him that he should have looked at the streets and houses for one last time. Because that's what it felt like. That they weren't going to return. At least not for a long time.

* * *

 _ **Only a week between two chapters! I feel like I'm almost back on track now :) For those who keep reading, thanks for your support! I appreciate it! Also, let me know what you think and what you like or dislike! Tudeluu, and until next time.**_


	49. The Convent & Miami

**_Northern France, Present Day_**

"And none of you have ever contacted Flora since 1925?" Briony asked, as they had arrived at the front gate to the convent, where Flora had spent the last 90 years.

"No," Elijah replied. "I told Rebekah not to. We have complicated her life enough, and if she wants to be alone, we should let her."

Elijah's gaze followed up the inconspicuous high walls in front of them. It was an odd thought that Flora had been living behind them by her own choice for such a long time.

There had been a few times in the last 90 years where Rebekah had changed her mind, and wanted to reach out to Flora. But even then, she had been patient and thoughtful enough to talk to Elijah about it first. And every time, Elijah had changed her mind. They had agreed that, maybe after a century or so, they would check in on Flora. Just to see if she was still alright in the convent. Now, they would visit her at least a decade earlier than planned. But desperate times needed desperate measures.

"Surprisingly thoughtful of you," Briony said.

"Probably wouldn't have worked if Nik had ever wanted to see her during that time," Elijah said with a weak smile.

Niklaus would have never accepted such boundaries, but luckily he had never had any interest in seeing Flora.

On the plane ride, Elijah and Briony had considered to sire anyone in their way and barging inside the convent. It would have been the fastest way. But Elijah knew that this was not how they'd persuade Flora to do anything. Instead, they were going to announce themselves as normal visitors, in the hope that Flora would come to them out of curiosity.

After a nun had appeared at the entrance and they introduced themselves, the nun told them to wait in the court yard until Flora would pick them up. After a few minutes, Flora appeared through a small door inside a tall wooden gate. She looked just the way Elijah had remembered her, except that she was dressed in a very simple grey dress. Her face was concerned. She must have expected that they'd only show up if they wanted something. Then, when she saw Briony, her eyes widened into shock.

"How?" she said, turning back to Elijah. "You shouldn't do these things."

"Hello," Elijah said, ignoring her comments.

Flora had her arms crossed, uncomfortable by their presence. But she didn't seem dispirited to see them.

"Come on, we can talk in the garden," she said, gesturing them to follow her.

She lead them through a long corridor until they had reached the other side of the building that led to the garden. A smell of rosemary and thyme greeted them. Small garden patches were aligned, on which grew various kinds of flowers and herbs. The garden was surrounded by a high rock wall that was grown over with ivy. A quiet but almost constant buzzing from bees and bugs filled the whole garden.

Flora ushered them towards two benches in the shade.

"So, what is your life like in the convent?" Briony asked, looking around in the small herb garden.

"Same old," Flora said.

"What do you do?" Briony asked.

"I get up, mass, breakfast, housework, praying, lunch, garden work, then I have some time for myself, mass, dinner, bed."

"Every day?" Elijah asked.

"Yes," Flora replied.

"That's what you did for the last 90 years?!" Briony asked, a loud incredulity in her voice.

Elijah couldn't blame her for the outburst. He was surprised that Flora hadn't turned crazy.

"Routine is very therapeutic for the soul," Flora replied.

Flora's must be the healthiest soul that had ever existed, Elijah thought.

"What have you been up to?" Flora asked.

She had her hands folded in her lap, and waited for their reply. Her eyes expressed a genuine interest. Elijah had expected her to be annoyed at their sudden intrusion in her space. That she'd demand immediately to know why they were here. But here she was, ready to hear about their mundane lives.

"Do you want to hear the whole story?" he asked.

"I have time," she said.

Elijah told her everything starting from 1925 after Flora had left, what had happened to Briony, how she returned, up until the events with Rebekah and Marcel. He ended with how they were now planning to reverse these last events.

Flora listened intensively, her face changing back and forth between surprise, sympathy and disgust. When they told her about Rebekah, she was holding back tears. After Elijah had finished, they all sat there for a moment in silence. Watching the flowers in the closest garden bed, Flora was processing everything she had heard.

She studied Briony's face for a while, then said: "There's one thing I don't understand. Why are you still with them? After everything they have done to you, have you truly forgiven them? They killed you!"

Briony shrugged. "We have bigger issues that cannot wait. If I don't deal with the present now, I won't be able to process the past later."

In a weird way, Elijah thought, Flora seemed more upset about the betrayal against Briony, than her death and resurrection.

Flora's eyes narrowed. "Did it ever occur to you that this is supposed to happen? That everything must come to an end?"

"Not like this," Elijah said determined. "Also, if a witch before us has achieved to reverse it, it means it is possible. It means we can, are allowed to do it, too."

"Just because you can, does not mean you're supposed to do it," Flora said with a raised eyebrow.

Elijah didn't reply to that. He already figured that Flora wouldn't respond well to a rational or ideological discussion. What they needed was an emotional hook.

"Do you remember when we visited you in Savannah? All of us together? One night, we had dinner on the terrace and played this idiotic game where you stuck a note with a name on your forehead and had to guess who you were. Kol got angry because Nik didn't take it seriously, and Finn had to intervene so that the dinner table wouldn't break in half, while you and Rebekah disappeared inside the house because you wanted to eat the dessert for 7 people by yourselves. I'm sure you have your friends here, some people that you even consider your family, but don't you want to return to what we had? A time where everything is possible, with Finn, with people that you sometimes have fights with, but in the end you truly care about, because they are your family?"

Flora bit her lip. There were some tears in her eyes, but she did her best hiding any emotions.

She replied: "Even if I wanted to return to that. I couldn't. Finn would never want this. He never wanted to be a vampire. It would be cruel to bring him back to this."

Elijah considered her. "I'm not so sure about that. In his last hours, he seemed pretty keen on surviving. Dying probably put the finality into perspective."

He turned to Briony who took the cue. "I've never had the desire to be more alive than in that final moment."

Flora hesitated. "It's a bit… drastic."

Elijah thought that was the understatement of the century.

"My answer is no," Flora said, rationalizing. "There is no way I can agree to this."

Elijah considered her for a bit. "Alright. We're not going to force you, Flora. If you do not want to be part of this, fine. We're going through with it in any case. Just without Finn."

Silently, Flora took a deep breath and waited.

"Okay, I'm sorry we have taken too much of your time," he said, and got up.

Briony sat up, dumbstruck. "Already?"

Flora look at him surprised. Elijah held out his hand to Briony, who confusedly took it and got up, as well.

"Well, thanks for being so understanding. And for asking, I guess," Flora rose up, wringing her hands uncomfortably.

With hesitant steps, she brought them back to the corridor, expecting them to stop her. But Elijah had no desire to do that.

"If your routine ever allows, feel free to write," Briony said, still somewhat bemused by the sudden goodbye, as they walked back to the entrance.

"I'd love to," Flora said with a weak but genuine smile.

They didn't speak anymore until they had reached the entrance gate. After a brisk goodbye, where Elijah practically pulled Briony behind him, they stepped out of the convent.

Briony said with confusion: "I must say I'm surprised by you, Elijah. We took this dreadful journey here - I had to board a plane, which I considered one of the worst experiences of my life, worse than that one time where your brother snapped my neck - and you gave up after half an hour of talking? We might as well have continued the spell without her and not wasted all this time. You are aware that your brother's life depended on this discussion, right? You didn't even give her a chance to change her mind."

"There was nothing else I could say."

"You could have threatened her."

"That wouldn't have worked."

"Neither did this," Briony said drily.

Elijah didn't have a chance to reply when suddenly the large entrance door to the convent opened again. Flora stepped out hastily.

"Good, you're still here!" she said out of breath. "Give me ten minutes to pack my things!"

Briony looked at Elijah in surprise. Then she turned back to Flora, who had already rushed back inside.

"How did you know?" Briony asked Elijah.

Elijah shrugged. "Nevermind what she said, she seemed much too content in her state now that she'd still condemn vampirism. And didn't you notice how happy she was to see you? There's no way that she wouldn't take the chance to get back Finn as well. All she needed was a bit of urgency to be persuaded."

A moment later, Flora returned with a small suitcase. She was accompanied by a small nun who seemed upset by Flora's sudden departure. Flora talked to her and explained to her that this was an emergency, and that she was going to return. This was a typical thing for Flora. Instead of siring the woman and get on with it, she took the time to find an excuse that didn't require her vampire powers. After she had said her goodbyes, she walked over to Elijah and Briony.

Briony asked her: "Did any of these nuns ever notice that you've been here for over 90 years, and haven't aged a day?"

Flora shook her head. "I made them forget me every 20 years or so, and then reentered the convent from anew."

Elijah raised an eyebrow.

Flora lowered her eyes, embarrassed. "It would have never managed without it. I didn't want to move to a new place every 20 years."

"And that's why you gave the whole convent amnesia?" he asked her with a fake seriousness.

Flora blushed.

"I had to! This is was the perfect place for me to be!" she said, in a loud apologetic manner.

"He's teasing you, Flora," Briony said with a laugh. "He doesn't care what you did to the nuns."

With that, Briony took Flora's suitcase, and led the way back to their car. "Why is this so heavy? I doubt any of your things here were worth taking along."

Before they left, Elijah needed to know one thing. "Were you upset that none of us ever contacted you? Or visited you?"

Flora looked at him surprised. "Why do you mean?"

Elijah hesitated. "We never contacted you because we thought you'd want to be alone after everything that happened. But you seem pretty happy to see us. Now I'm afraid that we cast you out against your will, and you were only waiting for someone to reach out to you."

"It's not like that at all!" Flora quickly said. "It's true. For a long time, I didn't care to see any of you. I needed a lot of time to be on my own, to work out things by myself. Even though I may have said such things back then, I've never planned on cutting you out of my life for good. That you never reached out to me - I appreciated it a lot actually. It took away the pressure to be a part of something. I'm not sure if I could have said no, if Rebekah or you had shown up and wanted anything."

"And now is different?" he asked skeptically.

Flora considered him, then said. "Yes. I believe so. I used to come with you because I felt guilty. It felt wrong to turn any of you away if you wanted me to be part of something. It felt like I should appreciate somebody wanting me to be with them. But now I can accept that it's me that wants to see you."

* * *

 ** _Miami_**

On the other side of the Atlantic, Niklaus and Davina had no trouble finding Freya. Niklaus had assumed that she only made a short stop in Miami before leaving for Europe, but when they eventually saw her, it looked like she had found herself a new long-term home. They had located her in a restaurant that served washed-down Italian food to the tourists, at one of the busiest pedestrian streets close to the boardwalk.

The second Freya walked up to their table in her waitress apron and recognized them, her face turned ice cold.

"I wouldn't have thought that this is what you wanted to leave New Orleans for," Niklaus said with a smug smile.

Freya closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"What do you want? Wait, don't answer that. I don't wanna know. Just leave."

"We can't," Niklaus said. "We need you back."

"There's no way in hell that I come back with you."

She turned to Davina. "Are you also here because of this?"

Davina nodded.

Freya stepped closer to her and put her hand on Davina's shoulder. "I know, at your age, death still feels like an ungraspable concept. But it's a sad fact of life that everybody has to live with. Even if some people have trouble accepting that."

"Stop meddling with her brain," Niklaus said.

"Please, everybody, stop treating me like a toddler!" Davina said angrily, and shook off Freya's hand.

Niklaus nodded at her encouragingly.

Freya sighed. She had opened her mouth to say something when another waiter threw her a reproachful look.

"I need to work. Please leave."

"This conversation is not over," Niklaus said, before Freya could walk off.

Freya took a step away, then hesitated. "Fine. Come back here at 7."

Niklaus considered this a first success. He didn't like the wait, but at least Freya had offered to talk. They returned to the restaurant at 7. Freya was already waiting for them. To Niklaus' surprise, she ushered them into the garden area of the restaurant that was adjacent to the busy pedestrian street. He would have preferred to go somewhere else, but since Freya was cooperative, he followed her politely.

"Why do we have to meet here exactly?" Niklaus asked, as they sat down on a small table.

He was already annoyed by the loud chatter around them, and the masses of tourists streaming down the road next to them.

Freya shrugged. "I figured it might keep you from murdering everybody when I say no."

"Not really," Niklaus said, watching a particularly obnoxious couple taking pictures in front of a supposedly funny board that advertised ice cream.

An icy silence followed. Freya leaned back mutinously, with crossed arms. It was clear that she wasn't going to help with the conversation.

"You need to come back. You're a vital part for us to succeed," Niklaus said.

Freya leaned forward. "Even if we don't consider how wrong I think your whole plan is. Why would I help you? There's nothing in it for me except pain."

Niklaus was about to respond when a waiter showed up to get their orders. Nik said the first thing that came to his mind, so the waiter would leave again. After Davina's order, the waiter hesitated.

"I'd need to see your ID, young miss," the waiter said to Davina.

"For God's sake, just bring her whatever she wants," Niklaus snapped.

With a funny and sired smile, the waiter nodded and walked off.

Freya gave Niklaus a scandalized look.

"Oh really, resurrecting a witch that has been dead for 100 years, and annihilating the whole vampire population is fine, but getting a 17-year-old free drinks is where you draw the line?" he asked drily.

Freya made a dismissive sniffing sound and turned away mutely. Next to them, a group of loud teenagers singing a song ordered a round of drinks. This was a terrible place to persuade Freya to do anything. It would have been hard to hold a conversation here with somebody who wanted one.

"Another question. Why here? I didn't take you for a girl craving for a tan between work shifts," he asked.

Freya played with the fork on the table. "I wanted to leave for Denmark, yes. Unfortunately, that's the furthest that money could get me."

"I don't know what you two complain about," Davina said. "I think it's very enjoyable here."

The waiter returned and brought her a colorful cocktail, plastered with fruits and little umbrellas. Davina seemed to enjoy herself.

"You've never been to Miami, have you?" Freya asked her with a raised eye brow.

"I've never been outside of Louisiana," Davina replied.

On the pedestrian street, another mass of people swept by. Niklaus thought of ways to get Freya to a quiet place where they could talk. Unfortunately, all his ideas involved force, which wouldn't help his persuasion plans later. He watched the group of people passing by and then turned to Freya, who was still nipping at her drink in the most defiant way possible.

For a fleeting moment Niklaus thought he had seen something in the streets. Someone. A familiar face. Immediately, Niklaus turned back to the street. But the people from before had already passed. But he was sure he had seen her.

Everything else he had planned to do was forgotten.

He got up. "I'll be right back."

"Wait!" he heard Davina say.

He didn't pay her any attention, and pushed himself through the crowd that led down the street.

Shortly after, he saw the brown curls in between a group of other people again. He sped up. She was moving alone. That was good.

At a corner, he snatched her arm and pushed her into an alley way.

"Katherine," he said.

She tried to get rid off his grip and stared at him, perplexed. He had caught her completely off guard.

"How-" she begun. "What do you want?"

That was a good question. Going after her and catching her had been an instinct. What did he want? He had given up on his revenge plans against Katherine a long time ago. But now that revenge was graspable, he reconsidered it.

"I think I'm going to kill you now," he said.

At least some success would come out of this trip.

"We had a deal! I saved your life. We were even!" Katherine said in mixture of anger and pleading.

Niklaus remembered. That's what they had agreed upon in 1925, after Elijah had told him that Katherine had helped them to find out the truth about Briony. He reconsidered the deal. That was before Niklaus had known the whole truth. It had all been a lie. Katherine hadn't helped him at all. She had made everything worse. Now he definitely wanted to get rid off her.

"Except you didn't save my life. You told Elijah lies that made him believe that Briony was planning to murder me. And in the process I killed my brother!" he said.

Katherine looked at him in surprise. "It wasn't a lie! I'm positive it was the truth! One of the witches in the coven told me!"

"Why would those witches tell a stranger like you anything?" he asked.

Katherine opened her mouth but then closed it again. She looked over his shoulder. Niklaus heard Freya's and Davina's foot steps. They had finally caught up with him.

Then, after some hesitation, she said awkwardly: "It was her. She told me. That's the witch who told me."

Tightening his grip on Katherine, Niklaus glanced behind him. Freya stood close to the wall, uncomfortable by the attention she was suddenly getting.

Niklaus turned back to her. "That is an unbelievably desperate lie. Even for your standards, Katherine."

"What on earth are you doing?" Davina demanded.

Niklaus ignored her.

"I'm serious. She was the one who told me," Katherine said. "Blame her for any false information if you must."

Niklaus turned back to Freya who mutely stared at him. She took a step away from them. It didn't make sense at all. Could there be truth in this?

"How?" Niklaus asked.

Freya stared at him with an open mouth.

Instead Katherine replied: "I don't know who she is. But she told me 90 years ago. I never forget a face. She was in the coven and she told me she had second thoughts, because they were trying to kill you."

Freya blushed. He could sense how her body froze.

"It's true, isn't it?" he asked.

With a small voice, Freya said: "I didn't know. I thought I was doing the right thing. I wasn't expecting you to kill everybody involved. I barely knew you."

"So you go around telling sensible information to strangers?" Niklaus replied angrily.

"She said she was your friend," Freya replied, motioning to Katherine. "That she wanted to protect you."

Niklaus narrowed his gaze on Katherine with a mixture of bewilderment and disgust.

Katherine shrugged. "We might have varying definitions of the word 'friend'."

That was too much information to process at once. He let go off his grip on Katherine. As he had expected, the second he let go she had run off. But he had no capacity to worry about her. In his head, Niklaus repeated the events. Freya had told Katherine, Katherine told Elijah, and Elijah told him. True, Niklaus had made a relatively stupid decision based on it, but it had all started with Freya. Everything bad that had happened in 1925 started with Freya. Freya, who kept reminding everyone how she was better than her family. And stupid, stupid Elijah, who trusted in second hand information from Katherine. Niklaus should have never listened to any of them.

Niklaus wasn't in the mood anymore to persuade Freya to do anything. He could barely look at her. If she hadn't been there in 1925 none of this would have happened. And still, she galavanted around them, pretending she never did anything wrong.

"Just get out of my sight," he said, averting her eyes.

He pushed her aside and walked out of the alley, down the busy street. He needed to think.

When he had reached the boardwalk that was almost empty around that time, he stopped. But the others didn't give him much time to be alone. A few moments later, the two women had caught up with him.

"Stop following me. I honestly don't wish to talk to either of you," he snapped.

With some hesitance, Davina said: "Fine, just tell me where to wait. You drove me here, so…"

Freya took a step towards him. "Don't get me wrong, I still think it was very wrong what you did. But I understand that I'm not completely innocent in the course of the events."

Niklaus didn't reply. He had a strong urge to throw her over the railing.

"I didn't know that my interference had led to these events. I am truly sorry for it," Freya said.

"Guess what, I don't care for your apology," Niklaus replied, keeping his eyes on the ocean.

"I don't know, Niklaus. I think you should forgive her," Davina said, untouched.

Against his principle to not get sucked into a conversation, he looked at Davina, surprised.

Davina gave him a knowing nod. "That is, if she's truly sorry and willing to show retribution. If only there was a way to reverse what she has done."

Freya glared from one to the other. "You can't be serious."

"No, no," Niklaus said, regaining his former ambition, "Davina's right. That's just fair, isn't it?"

Freya scowled at them. After some internal struggle, she gave in.

"It will be the last thing I'll ever do for you. After this you will never see me again, I can promise you that," she said.

Niklaus shrugged. "Or you could embrace that you have a family that would probably even accept you if you weren't such a big pain in the ass. But whatever floats your boat."

Now that everything was settled, Niklaus, Freya and Davina returned to the hotel they had been staying at. All the way to the hotel, Freya had walked mutely behind them. The second they arrived at the hotel, she disappeared in a room and shut the door behind her. Niklaus didn't care. As long as she would hold up her promise to help them, she could be as unsociable as she liked.

From their balcony, Davina greedily watched the busy street life beneath them. Nik assumed she would go out again soon, and he wouldn't stop her. But before she did, he had to ask her something.

"So, in the little expertise you have, do you think it matters if related witches do the same spell twice?"

Davina looked at him confused. "Why don't you ask Freya about this? She has centuries more experience. Or even better, wait until your favourite magic buddy comes back from France."

"But I'm asking you."

"From what I know, yes. If a spell is used several times in the same family, it can get stronger. At least, that's what I was told."

Niklaus nodded, reassured. "Okay, makes sense."

"Why do you wanna know?" she asked.

He didn't want to reply but he knew he should.

She observed him inquisitively.

"Why?" she asked again. "Does this have to do with the thing from the past you and Elijah weren't telling us about?"

Niklaus could sense that she knew something was up. It would be easy to walk away from her now. But he needed to tell someone. She had been right earlier, it was irresponsible to not tell anybody about this. Davina might not be the most knowledgeable witch, but he believed she could judge the situation.

"Since you have been so helpful today and you seem adamant to bring back Marcel, I will trust you with something and I hope I'm not wrong doing so."

Davina straightened her back, the busy street life beneath them forgotten. She waited.

"The thing that happened in the past that Elijah and I haven't talked about…" he hesitated.

"Yes?" she said, patiently.

"Clement, the wizard who did the spell before us, he wasn't a stranger. He was Briony's father. She was there, too. As a baby."

Davina gasped quietly and waited for more.

Niklaus continued: "He got killed while we were there. He was supposed to die anyway, but the way it turned out with us there, it was definitely our fault."

Davina watched him in disbelief and concluded: "She doesn't know about this."

Niklaus shook his head.

"Clement died because of you?" she said, grasping his words.

He nodded.

With another gasp, she exclaimed: "Wait, are you planning on telling her this?"

"I don't know," Niklaus said, unsure. "I really don't know what to do. It seems irresponsible not to tell anyone. That's why I'm telling you."

Shocked by the sudden responsibility, she said nervously: "Me? Do you want me to decide what to do with this information?!"

"Well, yes," he said. "I feel bad for not telling her about her family. And I need to figure out what to do about this on my own. But from a pragmatic point of view, do you think it matters for the spell if she doesn't know?"

Davina tried to wrap around her head around the news. "Well, as I said, for the spell it's probably an advantage. If her father could do it, she probably can, too. It will most likely work better for her than she anticipates."

"Elijah had said something similar. Can you think of any disadvantages?"

Davina shook her head. "I have never heard of any. But I'm not an expert in this."

After a pause she added with a softer voice: "From a completely non-pragmatic, very emotional point of view: I don't think she'll go through with it if you tell her now. First of all, you have waited way too long to tell her that it might be in any way forgivable. Also, I don't think she'll take it lightly that her family got destroyed because of you. I don't think she would want to help you anymore."

That's what Niklaus had been worried about. Disregarding the spell, the news would be devastating to her. It would interrupt their whole plan. She might even come around after a while. But they didn't have the time for that. As soon as Elijah and the others returned from France, they needed to start with the spell. Niklaus realized that, against his better judgement, he would need to deal with the consequences of the truth later.

* * *

 _ **So this has easily become the longest chapter I ever wrote. I was considering splitting it in two, but I didn't want to interrupt the flow. I hope you didn't mind! I thought it was a fun one! By the by, I have planned out all the chapters until the end now - so in case you wanna tell me anything beforehand about things you think should happen / or absolutely cannot happen in the story, now's the time! (I probably won't listen to you though).**_

 ** _Regarding the question in the comments why they won't return to NOLA: You just have to see :-)_**


	50. The Bridge

**_Outside New Orleans, Present Day_**

The pieces were almost in place to get their siblings back. The only thing missing was Elijah, Briony and Flora returning from France, and then they could finally complete the bridge spell. Niklaus had been awaiting their arrival impatiently.

They had decided to meet up outside of New Orleans, somewhere in the hills, leaving the bayou behind, away from civilization. The consequences they could expect from the bridge suggested to stay in an area as remote as possible. If this hilly swamp ended up split in half, it would be less disastrous than if it was in the middle of New Orleans.

In the woods, Niklaus and his group had found an empty lodge that seemed ideal for them. It must have belonged to people that were using it rarely. Although it was fully furnished, the house made the impression nobody had been there in a long time. Nobody would notice them here.

Until the others arrived, Niklaus, Freya and Davina had been waiting in the house, overlooking a small lake. Every now and then, Davina disappeared to the small town nearby. This made Freya nervous, so she'd look for Davina and bring her back every time. Niklaus barely registered what they were doing. He only wanted the others to come back.

"Niklaus, I have one request for the spell," Freya said at one point, when Niklaus was reading alone in the big living room.

"I wasn't aware that you helping us was going to be a negotiation," he replied.

Ever since she had agreed to help, they had barely talked to each other. He should be nicer to Freya to make sure she stayed. But after he had learnt the truth about her involvement in 1925, that had become very difficult. Her behaviour reminded him of Finn, except that Finn actually stayed true to his annoying good habits. And unlike with Finn, he didn't care about her opinion. She was a means to an end.

With some hesitance, Freya moved closer and sat down next to him. "I don't want to negotiate. It's simply a request that I hope you are willing to uphold."

Every fibre of his being told him to turn her down from the spot. He dreaded to have a conversation with her. But for once, her attitude didn't come off as preachy. There was a sincerity in her expression that made him listen.

Niklaus observed her without interrupting, which Freya took as a sign to continue.

"I'm not trying to change your or anybody else's mind about this. I know that you are hell-bent on going through with the bridge. I'm worried that some of you overestimate your powers."

Niklaus opened his mouth to reply, but Freya quickly added: "Remember, Davina and Briony still have heart beats that can end within seconds, when involved with powers like this. The strength of that spell will kill them if they're not careful. I might not agree with their idiotic convictions to this cause, but I don't want to see them get hurt. Promise me that you don't sacrifice them for your own family."

Even though her voice was calm, there was a pleading urgency in it.

Niklaus looked at Freya in surprise. "I would never sacrifice them."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"In case the spell goes wrong, or if we all realize that it is going to be too much for them to handle, you have to stop it before they kill themselves. I am afraid they overestimate their own skills."

Until now, the bridge had felt like one of the many other spells they had gone through. Some were harder than others, but all manageable in the end. But the way Freya spoke about this, it sounded like they were about to call upon the apocalypse. Freya's genuine worry had an effect on him. Now he was worried, too.

At the same day, the others finally arrived at the lodge. Niklaus had waited for them eagerly, as one after the other appeared in the door.

"I will never board a plane again. I'll just stay in the Americas now!" Briony proclaimed, as she had entered the house and threw her things onto a nearby chair.

Niklaus' heart leapt as he saw Flora come in right after her. Now they were complete. Everyone and everything they needed for the spell was here in this lodge. Elijah, entering last, closed the door behind them. He and his brother exchanged a hopeful look. Yes, Elijah was feeling how close they were, too. Somewhat embarrassed, he turned back to the others without saying anything. He didn't want to bother to ask how their trip had gone. Flora was here, so it obviously had gone well. Quietly, he watched them all settling inside, and was glad to hear Briony's complaining about planes that kept them from an awkward silence.

Flora soon excused herself to rest. Niklaus was pretty sure that she needed a break from the constant stream of consciousness on aviation. Freya and Davina had shown up in the mean time, and asked what Niklaus hadn't before. Elijah told them about the trip to France. Flora had been surprisingly easy to persuade. Unlike Nik with Freya, they hadn't even needed to emotionally blackmail her. Flora had always been the preachy type, too, but perhaps, Nik thought, she had finally come around and accepted her state. Maybe that meant he could finally warm up to her, too.

After the welcoming had passed, the group had split up to different parts of the houses to settle in. Elijah had gone out to the veranda. Niklaus didn't know what his brother did there, but he couldn't think of a pretence of going outside. Instead, he joined Briony in the kitchen. That was more important right now anyway. They had to prepare. Although Clement had taken much more time to prepare, they decided to do the spell within the next week. It seemed too dangerous to wait any longer — else they wouldn't have any time to figure out the not so small issue of fixing their finite time as vampires afterwards.

As she was preparing something for herself to eat, he told her everything about how Freya had changed her mind. Then he summarized again what he and Davina had discussed in the days before.

When Briony didn't add anything, he asked: "What do you think?"

"I think you should talk to your brother," Briony said.

"Why would he know?" Nik said.

"Not about the spell. In general. You are obviously trying to avoid him by talking to me. Else, you wouldn't have summarized the same thing for the 40th time."

Niklaus lowered his eyes to his notes without reading them.

"I don't think he wants to talk to me."

"That's not true. Just because he's angry at you doesn't mean he doesn't want to talk to you. He misses you."

"Did he say that?"

"He didn't have to."

After blankly staring at his notes, he considered her for a moment. She was right. He needed to talk to Elijah. This wouldn't go away by hiding from him. It was very unlike himself to avoid this talk anyway, Nik thought. His mind was still blank on what he could possibly say to his brother, but he didn't want to postpone it any moment longer.

Nik got up, leaving the notebook on the kitchen table. "By the way, I don't talk to you just because I'm avoiding Elijah."

Slowly he walked outside to the veranda. Elijah had been looking over the small lake, giving the impression he had been waiting for Nik to show up.

"I'm positively surprised that you got Freya here so fast," he said, when Nik kept quiet.

Niklaus shrugged. "I'm efficient."

Elijah considered him with a raised eyebrow. "You blackmailed her, didn't you?"

"Blackmail is a bit of a strong word. It was more of an emotional extortion, really."

There was almost a smirk in Elijah's face. "It's fine, at least you didn't threaten her. I doubt we'll ever manage to convince her to like us truly, and we certainly don't have the time now."

Perhaps it had been the week they had spent apart, but Elijah did seem softer towards him. Nik hoped that what he was about to tell him did not make it worse again.

"Listen," he began hesitantly, "from the many horrible things that happened to us, I know that I'm to blame for most of them. It sounds like empty words but I never wanted to happen for any of this. I'm sorry that I made so many terrible decisions that ended up… killing so many people we care about."

Elijah paused for a moment, then he said: "I don't blame you for Kol. I didn't mean that when I said it. It wasn't fair to say that to you. I was just so angry."

After a pause he added: "Back then, when I told you about what he and Briony did, I already knew you were going to kill her. And I was okay with it. No, actually, I was hoping you'd do it. I really wanted you to hurt her. It was just as terrible from me, as it was from you. I regret it now."

The thought about that time reminded Nik again how it was some kind of wonder that Briony was helping them now. They had been truly terrible to her.

After a long pause of silence, Elijah turned to him. "Promise me one thing, Nik. When… if they're coming back, we won't hurt each other again, whatever may come. There must be a basic level of trust to prevent such things in the future."

Nik took it that Elijah primarily meant the staking. But that was okay, he was way too afraid of the consequences to ever do that again. Also, he couldn't imagine ever a time in the future where he wished his siblings dead.

"I promise," Nik said.

Absent-minded, Nik turned around to face the house. He could hear the ongoings in the different rooms. How did they persuade so many people to help them? None of them were family, but still, they did everything to get back his.

Elijah must have guessed what he was thinking about and suggested: "Motion to include those four in the house?"

"Even Freya?" Nik asked with skepticism.

"You can still lock her into broom closets if she annoys you. Just don't hurt her. I feel like all of them deserve some level of trust or gratitude, now that they're helping with this."

Elijah was right. Everyone who helped them possibly destroying half of the state of Louisiana without asking for anything deserved eternal gratitude.

"We don't need to tell them that, though. Right?" Nik asked.

Elijah shook his head. "God, no. Else we might lose the last bit of authority that we still possess."

* * *

The following week had passed in a blur. Elijah couldn't believe the day had finally come. If everything worked out, they'd have their siblings back at the end of the day.

Everybody had prepared for their role. Briony and Davina were going to do the main job of completing the spell, Freya had already offered her blood, while the others were there to strengthen the emotional bond to the deceased. That didn't give Elijah much to do for the spell itself. But he figured that he and Nik were going to be needed to make sure nobody died if all hell would broke loose.

As he joined the rest at the hillside where the spell was going to take place, he heard Freya discuss with Davina about the dangers. Freya had been worried about all of them in case the spell backfired. Elijah would have been annoyed by this constant pessimism, but Freya seemed genuinely afraid. Maybe if today worked out and they survived, he might find a way to connect with her. Once committed, she seemed to be a very loyal person, a quality that he appreciated.

"I can do it," Davina said firmly. "I will not let go."

Freya and Niklaus exchanged a look.

"I doubt you will," Freya said kindly. "But I don't wanna kill you in the process."

"Stop worrying about me! I will be fine. Briony, tell them I can do it, please."

"Yes, your call," Niklaus said.

Briony sighed. "It doesn't matter if Davina can do it or not. We have no other choice. Without her, we'll be too weak. There's no way I can do it by myself. We'll just have to get through with it as fast as we can, and hope nobody ends up dead."

"That's good enough for me," Davina concluded, straightened up, and walked to the middle of the opening to prepare herself.

When Davina was out of earshot, Briony turned to Freya. "Don't worry, I won't let her kill herself. If it becomes too much for her, I will push her out of the circle. That easy."

"That leaves one witch that might overestimate her powers," Niklaus said.

Briony bit her lip. "I'm not overestimating anything. It's going to be splendid."

Elijah had talked about this with Freya many times. There was a big chance that they weren't going to succeed. They haven't had the same amount of time to prepare as Clement. But they had no other choice. And Briony wasn't going to listen to any criticism about her own skills.

"You watch her during the spell," Elijah said to Niklaus. "I'll make sure the others are okay."

With fast but focused motions, everything was prepared and ready. Usually, Elijah would haven been the first to say that they should slow down and work through it with more care. But today, he didn't feel like it. He wanted to get it over with. The thought of not knowing if it was actually going to work was killing him. The others must have felt the same. Nobody, not even Nik, had asked any further questions and followed the plan without resistance.

Shortly after, they had already begun with the spell. Nik, Freya, Flora and Elijah watched the circle where Briony and Davina stood from a safe distance. Elijah saw Nik across from him, sharply focused on what was happening between them. Within the first minute of the spell, the ground started tremble. Elijah had not expected this. They expected it was going to be hard, but it wasn't a good sign if there was an earthquake within the first minute.

With intense focus, he watched Davina, while occasionally glancing over to Briony. Davina was in pain, he could tell, but she did her best on hiding it. A white blue mist-like quality had filled the air, making it hard to see. As each minute passed, more earthquakes shook them, and Davina's face had taken on a weird dark red colour. The energy going through them was hurting her, he could see it in her limbs. After a while, she wasn't hiding her pain anymore, Elijah doubted she still could. Her arms cramped up and with one sudden strike, her faced turned white. But she wasn't letting go. Although in pain, her eyes were still dead set on the task before her. By now, Briony was struggling, too. A loud piercing noise echoed from one side of the glade to the other, it sounded like it came from underneath them. It got louder and louder, and it felt like the loud noise had entered his body and shook him at his core. Elijah tried to ignore the pain. The spell went on, and Davina's body began to waiver in unsteady shakes, and she started to breathe in weird short stances.

"She's not going to make it!" Freya said urgently, standing next to Elijah.

Elijah kept his eyes on Davina. Her heart was beating way too fast. Any second now, and the energy would kill her. Briony was going to push her out, wasn't she? She was mastering this situation well enough to know before the spell would kill Davina, right?

The second Elijah decided to intervene, Briony grabbed Davina's arm and pushed her away from her. Elijah rushed to the middle and caught Davina mid-air, who landed in his arms, unconscious. He pulled her back away from the centre. Freya appeared next to him.

"Is she alright?!" she screamed.

Elijah barely registered her, and kept his eyes to the centre. Through the wind and dust, he could make out Briony, now by herself. The ground trembled again, and he did his best to stay on his feet. Far away from him stood Niklaus, still focusing on Briony, scared. He was sure his brother was listening to her heart beat, listening to the ever accelerating tremble in her chest. Now that Davina was gone, her struggle had turned to an extreme that Elijah doubted any human could sustain for long.

The spell would only be complete when the earthquakes and the constant waves of energy and noises stopped. But right now, they continued to get worse and worse. He had no idea how long Briony would be able to hold on. Even watching from afar had turned to an almost unbearable level of pain. She had long stopped chanting, and he was sure, it was because she wasn't able to do so anymore.

A sudden realization came. They had been foolish. There was no way they could have managed to go through with this until the end.

He could tell from his brother's posture that he was going to intervene any second. Elijah would have liked to shout to him to do it, but he doubted Nik would be able to hear him. A loud crack echoed through the air. Elijah couldn't tell what made the noise, the ground, the air, or Briony, as another wave of trembling energy threw him off his feet. With great difficulty, Elijah tried to find hold anywhere, but the shaking did not stop. As he finally found something to hold on to, and his eyes searched the centre again, he saw the most terrifying thing before him. Briony had stopped moving, but was still taken ahold, there in midst of the energy. There was a dark fluid running out of her eyes and mouth. A second later, his brother had appeared and pushed her out of the circle. A few steps further, when the circle was broken, Nik stopped and almost stumbled over the ground, holding onto Briony, hanging down motionlessly, giving no indication that she was still alive.

In the worst earthquake yet, the ground began to gurgle up waves of dirt. Freya and Davina next to Elijah disappeared, as he was violently thrown to the side. The last thing he saw from the centre was how it seemingly imploded in itself, anything falling away into a deep, vast nothingness. He lost vision of Nik, still holding on to the body in his arms. Rocks, trees and ground flew left and right, and he heard trees and stones fall into the deep hole a few feet next to him. The air had filled with so much dust that he barely could see. There was no use in trying to get up. He pressed himself to the ground and closed his eyes, hoping that the huge chunks of rock and trees would miss him. Embracing that he was about to be pulled into the hole as well, he clambered onto a root underneath him. He listened for screams, for any sign that the others were still close-by and alive. But all he heard was nature breaking into pieces. This was not supposed to happen, was it? All he could think about, was the nothingness where his brother had just stood seconds before. Where had Nik gone? This whole plan had been absolutely ruthless. He could not lose his only brother left. No, this was not allowed to happen. He pushed that thought as far away as possible.

After a few minutes, the earthquakes decreased, and it felt like the earth itself began to slow down. Elijah felt heavy rain drops falling down on him. Trembling, he lifted his head from the dirt. The dust was clearing, but almost at the same time, a rainy mist began to set around him. With great struggle, Elijah tried to get up. None of his surroundings looked like anything they had before. He searched for the glade, the trees, anything. But he was surrounded by a field of vastness and destruction, torn apart by a deep hole that spanned wider than anything they had prepared for.

Frantically, his eyes searched for any survivors, especially his brother. His heart leapt when he spotted Nik not far from him, bruised and covered in mud. With weak and insecure knees, he climbed over the dirt and rocks until he reached him.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Was I supposed to do that?" Niklaus asked, in shock.

In his arms still hung what was left of the with black goo splattered Briony.

Elijah's eyes flew over the field of destruction and the newly created ravine. Although, ravine was not the right word for this. It looked more like a canyon. Further down the cliff, he eventually recognized Freya hovering over Davina. Davina was pale and lifeless, but at least there were no strange gooey substances in her face. There was dirt and debris everywhere. In between, he could make out shapes drenched in mud. Some things in there looked like limbs. Were those his siblings? He didn't know where to go first. Niklaus had caught up with him. He was still holding on to Briony like a stuffed animal.

"I shouldn't have done that," Nik said again with a dry voice. "I destroyed everything."

Elijah put his trembling hand onto his brother's arm. "You did the right thing."

He didn't want to imagine what else would have happened if Nik hadn't stopped the spell. If anything, they should have stopped much earlier.

"Is she dead?" Elijah asked.

He honestly couldn't tell.

Niklaus considered what he was holding in his arms. "No."

Coming back to his senses, his brother put her on the ground with great care. He was about to feed her blood, but then stopped. Instead, he pulled out more of the black goo that was still stuck in her mouth. The worrying realization came to Elijah that their healing powers might not be good enough for this.

Flora had already joined Freya, and took care of Davina. Hopefully, she would be alright.

Again, the ground trembled. They all stopped in their tracks until the earthquake stopped again. More large chunks of rocks had broken off, and trees had been pulled inside the canyon. They needed to get away from here as soon as possible.

The shapes. Elijah remembered again. His heart began to race. In fast steps he rushed over what was left from the meadow to the closest of the shapes. He pulled it out of the mud. He immediately knew it was a human being. In fast and rushed motions, he turned it around until he found a face, and brushed off the mud from the skin. What he found almost gave him a heart attack. Finn.

Unable to process what was in front him, he stared at his older brother. This was most surreal.

His eyes searched the muddy field again. There he saw another body. And further down another! He almost allowed himself to be happy. He searched further. He couldn't make out anything along the corners of the field, so he turned around again and searched along the cliff. Three made it back for sure. But the fourth was still missing.

* * *

 ** _50 chapters! Crazy! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and the story overall so far. Let me know what your thoughts are, and feel free to guess what will happen now and why there are only three bodies. About 9 chapters more to go!_**

 ** _Also thank you for the comments! I appreciate them a lot. Regarding Davina, and what will happen now that she knows about the past, yeah it's always more dangerous when more people know about a secret! We'll see :-)_**


	51. Memories

_**Present Day**_

With great care, they had carried the bodies back to the car. Elijah tried to brush off the dirt from their faces. While still unconscious and even through the dirt, the bodies appeared more alive by the minute. The pale and artificial complexion of death had been fading away. It felt bitter sweet. There were only three. In a perfect world, Finn, Kol, Rebekah and Marcel would have all made it back. But not all of them had.

Davina had woken up in the mean time. Tired, she was sitting on the ground, leaning on the car, waiting until Niklaus and Freya would come back from the glade. She didn't seem to be able to decide if she was happy or sad. In her state of barely being awake, she was too weak to react to any of this.

Among everyone, Flora was in the most positive and hopeful spirits, as she tended to Finn's dirty face. Now and again, she glanced to the other bodies, or to Elijah and Davina, and nodded in a soft and encouraging manner. She was right. They should be happy with what they achieved. Not long ago Elijah had thought this would not have worked at all.

Briony was still unconscious and looked the worst. They had managed get rid off most of the black goo. Now she was lying on the backseat of the car, completely lifeless. From her weak but steady heart beat, Elijah was hoping she was healing. There's not much else they could do but wait.

Shortly after, Freya and Niklaus returned.

"Anything?" Elijah asked, allowing himself to be hopeful for a second.

Niklaus shook his head. "We've been searching for an hour now. Freya tried every location spell she could think of. There's nobody else in that field."

Elijah contemplated his brother, unsure. He didn't want to say it. Was that it? Were they about to give up?

Niklaus hesitated. His eyes gazed over the three bodies that were carefully laid next to each other inside the large trunk.

"Let's…" he began with pain in his voice, "just count our blessings for now. We'll figure something out for Kol later."

It broke Elijah's heart, but Niklaus was right. There was nothing they could do for Kol right now. He hadn't shown up in the field.

Throughout the day they had a more earthquakes. After a very slow car ride, they had returned to the lodge at the lake, the closest place they could think of. It seemed too dangerous to travel any further with three sort-of alive bodies in their trunk. None of them knew how fragile these bodies were, especially because none of the three had given any signs of waking up. So they wanted to be as cautious as possible.

A pine tree had blocked the road to the lodge, but luckily the house itself did not show any sign of damage from the earthquakes. They put Finn, Rebekah and Marcel in the living room onto the soft carpet. Briony they had put upstairs in one of the bedrooms. The main reason for splitting them up was to avoid Briony finding out on her own that the person she was wanted to return the most didn't make it. If she was going to wake up at all.

Elijah had not expected that he would leave his siblings out of his sight the second they returned, but somehow he found himself with Nik and Davina in Briony's bedroom. They had never thought about what would happen if Briony didn't make it. They needed her to survive to get to survive themselves. What use were an alive Finn, Rebekah and Marcel when they were all going to die soon after, anyway? There was no way that Freya would help them, and after today, Elijah was sure that Davina wasn't able to do the job, either. Davina was struggling with the same issue.

"It's all my fault!" Davina whimpered. "Because I was too weak."

"It's not. You did everything you could. It wouldn't help us if you were dead," Elijah said kindly.

A bad feeling went through his stomach. There was this girl who had almost killed herself for his family, and she still felt like she hadn't done enough. He had no idea how they deserved this. Elijah had come to the bedroom to talk to Nik in private, but now that he was here, he was out of words. Discussing and figuring out a plan was what they usually did, but right now he didn't know where to start.

"She's going to be very upset when she wakes up, right?" Davina asked.

 _If she was going to wake up_ , Elijah thought.

"Yes," Elijah said.

Nik must have thought the same and watched him quietly.

Flora had suddenly appeared in the door. "You must come down right now."

"Are they awake?" Elijah asked, hoping again.

"No," she said.

Her short answer sounded ominous. Elijah immediately got up to follow her. Then he remembered something. He turned and stopped Niklaus who was right behind him.

"You stay here," Elijah said.

"What? Why?" Niklaus asked, eager to follow his brother's steps.

"Because you can't let Davina tell her the bad news if she wakes up."

Unsure, Niklaus turned around and hesitated. But he understood. After everything that happened, they couldn't do that to Briony.

With that, Elijah rushed down the stairs into the living room where his siblings and Marcel still lay on the ground, just as he left them.

"What is it?" he asked Flora.

"Listen!" she said in seriousness, pointing at them.

They all lay perfectly still. What did she mean? Then he heard it. The rhythmic dump noise. Something he didn't know from his siblings at all. Heartbeats.

Even though it would not make any difference, Elijah rushed over and kneeled down beside them. Moving closer, he listened to Rebekah's chest. Why on earth did they have heartbeats? They were supposed to return like they had been before, as vampires. They were not supposed to be alive like humans, were they?

A thousand thoughts rushed through his head, all of them surrounding the fragile little bodies his siblings were in.

Deep in his thoughts about the drumming noises before him, he eventually registered the shouting coming from upstairs. It was Briony who was definitely awake, and from the tone he gathered very upset. He had no time to be relieved about her being alive, they needed her right now.

Elijah got up and headed for the door, but then stopped abruptly.

He turned to Flora again: "Don't leave them out of your sight! I mean it!"

In this state those three needed constant supervision at all times. With some hesitation to leave them behind, he rushed up the stairs.

Upstairs, Davina was waiting in the hallway, obviously terrified by the dispute. Elijah passed by her and joined the others.

"You should have let me finish the spell!" Briony shouted.

"It would have killed you! I'm not sorry for that!" Nik countered.

"I look pretty alive now, don't I? I could have easily finished it!" she said angrily.

"You didn't look so alive 5 minutes ago. Any second longer and the spell would have killed you!"

Briony glared at him. "You people only think about yourselves, don't you? The spell had turned out well enough for you, so there was no reason to continue until the only one I wanted turned up!"

"How was I supposed to know that Kol didn't make it? And don't pretend you're the only one who's unhappy about this!"

Deciding to not even get into the discussion, Elijah interrupted: "We need you downstairs. There's something wrong with the others."

"What is it?" Niklaus asked worried.

"Heartbeats," Elijah simply said.

Niklaus' eyes gaped in a mixture of worry and confusion. Helplessly, he turned to Briony.

But Elijah's words hadn't reached Briony yet.

"I couldn't care less what either of you has to say right now!" she shouted.

"Briony, please," Elijah pleaded. "Something's wrong with them!"

Briony closed her eyes and took a very long, frustrated breath.

"I hate all of you so much," she said with repressed anger.

Trying to avoid any further dispute, Elijah ushered them down into the living room. Nik must have noticed the heart beats the second they had entered the room. Terrified, he turned to Elijah. Then he rushed over and sat down between Rebekah and Marcel and listened. After some defiant hesitation, Briony joined and kneeled down next to him. She put her head on Marcel's chest and checked his pulse.

With great and worried expectations, they waited for her to say something.

"They're alive," she said briskly.

"But how?" Niklaus asked.

She opened her mouth to what was surely a snotty reply, but must have changed her mind when she saw their anxious faces.

Frustrated, she rubbed her face. "It must have to do with the spell. Until _somebody_ interrupted me, everything had gone according plan. I assume there was something wrong with the spell to begin with."

"But how could it be wrong? We did everything Clement said. And he didn't say anything about heartbeats," Niklaus said irritated.

"What were his exact words? About the purpose of the spell? Do you remember?" Briony asked.

Nik shook his head. "I don't know."

"Didn't you pay attention?" Briony said, now positively furious. "You were aware how important this was, right?"

Elijah thought back to the conversation with Clement. Niklaus hadn't paid attention at all because he had seen Briony's mother. Only now he realized that they still hadn't told her about that part of their trip. This was definitely not the right moment to bring it up.

"He told us," Elijah tried to recall Clement's words, "how he extended the spell from a soulmate to his whole family. He said that this was deeply personal and he was the only one who could recover them to their last living self."

Briony gaped at him. "Living. You had written it'd bring them back to their state before death."

"Which is…" Elijah began.

"Not the same," Briony said drily.

"I even asked you about this!" she said with anger, and stood up.

Elijah didn't know what to say. He had gone through the spell endless times. But he had to admit that this was very likely his mistake.

She buried her face in her hands. "I need to lie down."

"We can't just leave them like that. They're helpless," Nik said frigthened.

"Honestly, I couldn't care less." As if that had concluded the discussion, she turned away and marched back to the hallway.

"Wait," Niklaus said after her.

"Let her go. We'll figure it out tomorrow," Elijah said tiredly.

Tired, Elijah sank down onto the sofa, watching the three humans on the carpet in front of him. He didn't know what to process first. Where to start. That some of his siblings were back. That Kol wasn't. That Rebekah and Finn had heartbeats. Was he supposed to be happy or sad? Terrified? Relieved? Scared?The truth was, all those feelings raged inside him and didn't leave him any energy to master so many emotions. It was too much to process. So instead, he sat there, his head blank, and listened to those three heart beats.

* * *

This was bad. There were so many ways how this could backfire. Apart from the fact that the three returned were currently bound to absurdly short human lives, they had weak little bodies. Anyone who wanted, could kill them easily. None of their enemies were ever to know about this. In New Orleans alone were at least 20 people that wanted Nik and his siblings dead. He had to hide them until he could figure out what to do with them. Nik considered waking up Freya, who had gone asleep a while ago, and ask for her help. But if he was honest with himself, he didn't trust her with something so important like this.

"Can you please stop being so fidgety?" Flora asked, who had watched him walking through the living room for the last hour.

"Nope," Nik said.

Tired, Elijah looked up and suggested: "It's not necessary that the three of us watch them at the same time."

Flora crossed her arms, upset that she was about to be thrown out.

But Nik didn't want to stay. Not knowing what was going to happen next was driving him crazy. For a moment he observed the dark trees outside the windows. They had been waiting for them to wake up for hours now.

"It's fine. I'll go. Get me when they wake up. Or anything else happens."

Right now, he might not be able to figure out what to do with his siblings, but there was something else he could do.

First determined, then getting more hesitant as he walked on, he went upstairs, back to the room where they had put Briony before. As he had expected, she was back there, lying on the bed, facing the wall opposite the door. At first, he thought she was asleep. But then he heard a soft whimpering.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

He already knew the answer. Despite seeing Rebekah, Marcel and Finn returned, he was downhearted about the incomplete outcome of the day. But from all of them, she was taking this the hardest. And he believed she was blaming herself for that.

"Go away," she whispered, not turning around to face him, clutching a pillow in her arms.

Slowly, he took a few steps closer.

"Leave me alone, I don't wanna talk to any of you," she added.

He had no intention on going away. This wasn't about him being pushy. It was better if she wasn't alone, he felt it, even if she didn't want to admit it. They were supposed to be in this together, and it couldn't be that she alone was suffering more than the rest.

Slowly he walked over to her, climbed onto the bed and lay down next to her. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer. Part of him expected her to complain or push him away, but she didn't.

Still turned away from him, she asked: "Why are you even here?"

There was something he had been thinking about a lot in the last few days. In all this turmoil that had happened in the last months, where he had lost almost all the people he cared about, there had been only a few people he had truly trusted. No, that wasn't true. Even with Elijah he had been constantly arguing. It might have improved in the last days, but his brother hadn't been there for him either. Not really. There had been only one person he could truly count on in the last few months. Her.

"Because I think you're my best friend," he said.

Briony said nothing. But she didn't argue with him.

They must have stayed silent for a very long time. After a while, Briony's sobs had stopped, and her breathing got steady. She might have been asleep, but Nik found that very hard to tell. He tried not to smell her hair - this was not supposed to be something like that. This was supposed to be a friend thing. Yet something about her heartbeat was very soothing. If she had one, and she did pretty alright in her life, they could deal with more family members having heartbeats, right?

It had almost been morning when he heard foot steps coming up.

"What…" Elijah began when he saw them, but then stopped. "Nevermind. They woke up. We have a big problem and you need to come down."

Awake. The thought had registered in his head. He sat up immediately.

"What is it?" Nik asked, back to his most focused self.

Elijah hesitated. "Something about Rebekah and Finn is different. They don't recognize some things. They don't understand where we are. They recognize me though. Marcel seems okay. "

Downstairs, Flora already waited for them at the doorway, visibly upset.

"They don't remember anything!" she exclaimed.

He quickly passed by her. When he saw Rebekah his heart made a leap. There she was, with open eyes, moving, not dead. If there was ever a moment in his life where he felt true happiness, it was this. Anxious, she was sitting on the sofa, but she was alive and awake. Next to her were Finn and Marcel. They looked excellent. Everyone looked just excellent. When they saw him and Elijah, they all straightened up, anticipating, happy to see them.

"Rebekah," he said, and grabbed her into a hug.

She responded to it. For a second, it felt like the world had fallen back into order. The rest didn't matter right now.

"I'm so glad to see you," she said. "What is going on?"

With great reluctance he let go off her, and regarded her intently. She seemed alright. Warm, heart-beaty and human-like, but besides that very normal. Not as emotional as him, but she probably didn't remember that she had been dead. He had no idea what the problem was, or what Flora had meant.

"Where are we? Who are these people?" Rebekah asked.

She nodded towards Flora, Marcel and Davina. Unsure, Nik looked back and forth between her and the others with concerned faces. Something was off with her.

"You really don't remember me?" Marcel asked her, affronted.

It was so good to see him. It had worked. Their plan had worked.

"Are you alright?" Nik asked him, still somewhat holding on to Rebekah.

He nodded. From his sober response, Nik assumed that Marcel wasn't aware he had been dead either. But Rebekah's reaction to him was odd. Although Nik would have preferred to be happy for a while, they needed to understand what was going on.

"And do you know-" Nik began.

"Yes, I know who Rebekah is! Why shouldn't I?!" Marcel interrupted him.

Whatever the problem was had only affected some of them.

"What happened?" Marcel asked, rubbing his arms uncomfortably.

"You were…dead," Nik hesitated to say it out loud.

Was is smart to tell them the truth? Or would a lie make it worse? Elijah moved uncomfortably. Maybe Nik shouldn't have said anything for now.

Marcel seemed mildly surprised, but did not react too worried about this information.

Curiously, Rebekah eyed Briony who had stayed in the door frame.

"You don't know who she is, either, do you?" Nik asked, skeptically.

Rebekah shook her head. Finn's face was just as blank.

Nik turned to Marcel.

"Yes, I know Briony! I think we have established now that I am not affected by this memory problem!" Marcel replied impatiently.

Davina gave a small cough to gain attention.

He looked at her curiously. "We haven't met before."

"Yes, we have!" she replied, trying to hide that she was obviously offended.

Elijah's eyebrows curled. "I know what the problem is."

He moved closer between Finn, Rebekah and Marcel, as if to read their reactions up-close.

"What year is it?" he asked.

Neither Rebekah nor Finn replied, and looked at their brother confused.

"What year?" Finn eventually asked.

"As in the calendar," Elijah said.

Finn shook his head, unsure.

"1819," Marcel replied with confidence.

Niklaus understood what his brother was getting at.

"What does he mean?" Davina asked.

"1819," Nik replied with dread. "That was the last year he was still human. That's the last thing he remembers."

Okay, so Marcel had forgotten the last 200 years. Did that mean…?

"Wait," Niklaus suddenly exclaimed and turned to Elijah, "are you telling me that they only remember their human lives, and these are the Finn and Rebekah from 1000 years ago?!"

Elijah shrugged uncomfortably. "Looks like it."

Of course, that's why they didn't know what year it was. They didn't pay much attention to calendars back then.

This was getting more difficult by the second.

"What are you talking about?" Rebekah said angrily. "Can somebody please tell me what's going on?!"

Nik was about to reply, when Elijah interrupted him, and gave him a nod to talk in private.

Elijah pulled him back to the entrance door, while still focusing on their siblings.

"Do you really think these are the Finn and Rebekah from 1000 years ago?" Nik whispered, afraid.

Elijah watched them, worried, then suddenly had a thought. "They're speaking English. We didn't do that back then."

"You're right," Briony said, who had followed them uninvited. "It's too early to tell. That they speak English is a good sign. I think."

"What are we going to do?" Nik asked.

Elijah was out of suggestions as well.

After a pause, he said: "For now? Make sure that they stay alive?"

* * *

 _ **Oh man, your comments had me question my ability to count bodies and made me worried that I somehow forgot to mention Marcel (I did not! Just to make sure I re-read the last 10 chapters!) Sorry though if that has been confusing in any way. Elijah just never thinks much about him. Also sorry for no Henrik if some people were rooting for that - maybe in a future story. And obviously, I'm kinda angry with myself for not bringing back that one other character, Kol. I was regretting it while writing it but that's just what the story needs. Can't have them too happy.**_

 _ **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think!**_


	52. Return to the Old Ways

Tumulted with a mixture of pure happiness and perplexity, Elijah and Niklaus had been watching their siblings adjust to their new environment. Elijah had been wary to tell them everything that had happened. Nik didn't understand what the fuss was about. Was his brother worried that Rebekah and Finn would not be able to cope with the last thousand years? That they'd have a heart attack when they heard? How would he even be able to hide the past? It was pretty hard to keep the knowledge of a thousand years from them. They only needed to look around, at the house, their clothes, all the inventions and devices. The world had changed in absurd speed ever since they had been human.

But Rebekah and Finn made a balanced, calm impression. They weren't freaking out. Perhaps that was a good sign. It meant that their memories were still there, somewhere deep inside, and all they had to do was finding a way to remember. Nik decided to be patient with them.

Talking to them without the baggage of a millennium was almost liberating. Especially, with Finn. Nik had completely forgotten how simple their relationship as humans had been. Now it felt like their relationship had begun from anew, and it was nice not to be judged by him for once.

Flora, on the other hand, was struggling with the situation. Nik couldn't blame her. Finn had no memories of her at all. He must have realized that Flora knew him very well, so he was kind and polite to her. But it was in such a reserved, unattached way that it drove Flora crazy. Frustrated, Flora had given up on trying to strike up a meaningful conversation, and in return didn't talk anyone. Always from a safe distance, she watched them jealously. Davina was dealing better with the whole ordeal of 'not being remembered'. In the evening, Nik saw her talking casually to Marcel a few times, explaining what he had missed. Marcel must have accepted that they had been friends and listened earnestly. Briony was still upset and sad. But now that Rebekah, Finn and Marcel were awake, she was too interested in them to hide in her room. But Nik doubted that she would still help them trying to prolong their lives. Her heart wasn't in it anymore.

Davina had been giving Marcel, Finn and Rebekah a tour through the kitchen, and explained them the appliances and foods they had. It was amazing how enthusiastic Davina still was for any issue that came up. Through the archway from the living room, Nik watched them, as they learnt about the toaster. There was not much else to do than observing those newborn humans, oddly stumbling around the house.

"Do you think they will ever get their memories back?" Flora asked Briony with some desperation in her voice.

Both were in the living room as well, observing the odd behaviour of the resurrected three. Elijah kept glancing over to the kitchen as well, uncomfortable that they were staring at their siblings like zoo animals.

"I don't know," Briony replied. "This is my first time dealing with thousand-year-old humans with amnesia."

Flora mumbled through gritted teeth. "I'm not in the mood for snappy retorts right now! This is a disaster!"

With a loud grumble, she jumped up from the sofa, and marched out of the room.

Bemused, Briony watched her leave.

Mostly to herself, she said: "It's not like the rest of us have issues with this, Flora."

Nik had never seen Flora so annoyed. He couldn't but be amused about it, and smiled.

"Don't start mocking her now," Elijah said, watching him.

But Nik hadn't meant to mock her at all. This selfish Flora he could actually imagine to like. Now that she had let go off her reservedness and constant calmness, she was much more interesting.

Suddenly he felt a warm hand on his arm. Out of reflex, he jerked and had almost pulled his arm away, but then realized it was Finn who had come out of the kitchen.

"Your arm is very cold, Niklaus," Finn said with some concern.

"Uhm, yeah," Niklaus replied awkwardly, not sure what to do with the most affectionate gesture he had received from his brother in the last thousand years.

"We're going to figure something out for this situation, I'm sure of it," Finn said and gave him a pat on the back.

Then he left for the veranda. Incredulous, Nik gazed after him.

"I'll make sure he doesn't get lost outside. Watch Rebekah and Marcel, please?" Elijah said to Niklaus, as he followed their brother out the door.

"Human Finn liked you," Briony said with a grin.

"Don't be so surprised," Nik said.

In the mean time, Rebekah had shown up and been walking around them, looking at things, trying to remember the names she was told.

She stopped in front of Briony and studied her face.

"Briony," she said, thinking.

"Correct," Briony said.

"Marcel is the one who knew me but I didn't know him. Flora was the one who got upset because Finn didn't recognize her. I take it, she's his girlfriend. That's an awkward situation to be in right now," she snorted.

"And you've been with us for a long time, because you're with one of my brothers?" Rebekah asked Briony.

"Yes," Briony said.

"And the two of us, we got along well?" Rebekah asked.

"Yes, we did. Very well."

"Well, you must say that now. Who would admit to the opposite?" she replied with a smirk in her face.

Then she pointed to the television. "What is this?"

"I don't know what it's called," Briony replied.

"How do you not know?" Rebekah asked, concerned.

"I just recently figured out what planes are. I'm still catching up myself."

Rebekah stared at the black screen, as if it didn't belong there. Suspiciously, she took a few steps away.

"It's a TV, Rebekah. Don't worry about it. It's supposed to be there," Nik said.

His words gave her some assurance, but she still didn't let the TV out of her sight.

"I think I'm getting sleepy," she eventually said with a yawn.

"You are?" he asked surprised.

He forgot about that. Rebekah and the concept of sleep had never been in the same train of thought before.

He ushered her out of the room and up the stairs. Until now, he hadn't understood why Elijah insisted that they'd look after those resurrected humans. But when Rebekah almost walked into the window front and fell over the fluffy carpet, he knew what his brother meant. There was too much she wasn't familiar with in the new world.

As they ascended the stairs, they heard Flora from the kitchen, arguing with Davina and Marcel. The long day of not being remembered had put her in a bad mood.

"The Flora girl seems a bit dramatic," Rebekah said.

Nik tried not to laugh. He had never seen Flora behave like this before, and now, this was the first impression she had made on all her old friends with amnesia. Niklaus contemplated on telling Rebekah that Flora wasn't always like this, but decided it would be funnier if he didn't.

"I like your girlfriend much better," Rebekah added. "Seems more balanced."

It took Nik a moment to grasp what she was getting at.

"What? Are you thinking that I'm with - No! Rebekah!" Niklaus answered in terror.

Rebekah turned around to look at him. "How would I know? She said she was with one of you guys, and ever since I came back she has literally been next to you all the time. And Elijah said that you were in her bedroom before so it can't be that far-fetched."

"Just stop talking," Nik said, pushing her up the stairs now.

"Also, the way you look at each other implied some things. And now you're blushing."

"Present day Rebekah would never suggest these things."

"Present day Rebekah sounds like a bore."

"She was with Kol! Why do you think she was upset before?!"

Less than a day back, and he really wanted his sister to shut up.

Rebekah crossed her arms defiantly. "For your information, it's not easy to figure out everything that happened in the last thousand years right from the spot."

"You don't seem to have much trouble to adapt though," he replied.

He had expected more anxiety from his siblings when they had heard about the terrible things they had done. But so far, Rebekah had shown nothing but mild surprise and curiosity.

"Right," Rebekah paused.

She observed him with a reflective gaze. "Somehow, nothing you tell me sounds surprising. Like I'm already supposed to know these things."

Before he could reply, she quickly added: "Nice try on changing the subject, by the way."

"Are some things coming back to you then?" he asked, hopeful.

Rebekah shrugged. "Very vague thoughts. Was I married once?"

"Yeah," Nik said.

He was almost annoyed that this unnecessary piece of information was the first thing she remembered.

Rebekah's face lit up. "Really? How was my husband? Was he nice? Handsome?"

"No idea. I barely met him."

"How so?" she asked.

Niklaus sighed. "You meant to introduce us at one point. But then something got in the way… and we never properly got to know him."

" _Something got in the way_?" Rebekah repeated annoyed. "This is exactly the problem! How am I supposed to remember things when you and Elijah keep censoring the past? You said yourself that I'm adapting fine. Tell me the whole truth, so I can get back my memories!"

Niklaus hesitated. "Fine. You invited all of us to your castle and meant to introduce us to your husband. We got into a fight, and you pushed Flora down the stairs. That killed her and turned her into a vampire. Maybe don't bring that up the next time you see her."

Rebekah gaped at him. "I did that?"

"Yup."

She stared at him in disbelief. "I own a castle?"

"Not a priority right now, Rebekah," Niklaus sighed.

He ushered her to the first room on the next floor. Soon after, she kicked him out again, telling him that she did not need him to watch her creepily while she was asleep. He still had no idea what he should do with his human siblings. But with her new-found insolence and carelessness, he felt like Rebekah was going to be fine. They were all going to be fine. They must be.

* * *

Early in the morning the next day, they were already on the road, back to New Orleans. Elijah and Niklaus deemed it was time to go back to their old house. Maybe the house would help their siblings and Marcel to remember a few things, remind them of their old ways. It was worth a try.

After the many earthquakes and other natural occurrences, Elijah was not surprised to find there were more than a few destroyed houses and streets on their way. Halfway through town, a small group of werewolves had blocked their way. Any other day, Elijah would have been happy to destroy them, but today he wanted to get away as quickly as possible. His weak and fragile siblings were no use in a fight against werewolves or any other magical beings. And it was better if nobody knew that they had become such easy targets.

The encounter made Elijah wonder how those werewolves found out about their return so quickly. They must have been waiting for them.

Worried, he looked back into the rearview mirror to see Rebekah and Finn on the backseat. They were oblivious of his worries, and watched the modern world outside with great interest. Flora, next to him in the passenger's seat, continued her approach to stay silent until Finn would remember her. Every now and then, she turned around to glare at him and Rebekah, as if to make sure that they still had no memories of her. This made the atmosphere in the car rather icy.

"Are we sure that Freya is our sister?" Rebekah suddenly asked.

"Yes," Elijah said with a sigh. "Trust me, we have gone through this many times. We are sure."

"Are we though?" Rebekah asked again, suspiciously.

Elijah spared himself the reply. They had already spent so much time on this. He didn't want to discuss Freya's status in the family again. Especially now, that some memories had already come back, he was sure that Rebekah would remember Freya on her own.

"I'm just saying, it's weird that she has shown up at a time like this. I mean, first we're dead and now we don't remember anything?" Rebekah added.

"I don't trust her, either," Flora weighed in. "I remember she was in the coven in 1925. And she hadn't introduced herself then."

Elijah turned to Flora in surprise. "You remember her from back then?"

Nik had told him in the meantime what he had learnt about Freya and how she had been involved with everything in 1925.

"Of course," Flora said with some shade. "I do pay attention to the people around me. I don't forget people."

"You have to admit, Elijah. That's very fishy," Rebekah pressed again.

Elijah waved her off. "You haven't been here in the last months - well you have, but you don't remember. She's our sister if we like it or not. And since she's helped us resurrecting you, I think you should be a bit more generous towards her."

Rebekah shrugged.

"Maybe try and talk to her. I'm sure you'll remember some things about her eventually," Elijah added.

The car fell quiet again. He wondered what the others in the second car were talking about. It couldn't be as uncomfortably quiet as in here. Davina and Briony had no trouble talking to Rebekah and Finn even though his siblings treated them like strangers. But they most likely didn't feel the same pressure to appeal as Flora did.

But Elijah had a feeling if it might be something else with Finn and Flora. It might not be the amnesia at all. Flora had always liked Finn because he was like her, a vampire struggling with his state of being. From what Elijah knew about their relationship, it was built on this groundwork of understanding. But Finn wasn't a vampire anymore. Maybe that's why Flora didn't know what to say to him.

Soon after, they arrived at the mansion, or what was left of it. It clearly had gotten the short stick during the earthquakes. The front part of the house appeared alright, but towards the back and where the kitchen used to be, a big part of the walls had fallen in or broken off. The second floor was still there for the most part but looked very unstable. None of it looked safe.

The others had already arrived before them and were inspecting the damage. Warily, Elijah walked along the house walls to see what else was destroyed.

"Elijah," Briony caught up with him, "we can worry about the house later. Now we have things to do!"

"What do you mean?" he asked, taken aback by her sudden energy.

"Well, we wanna prepare for tomorrow," Briony said.

"What's tomorrow?" Elijah asked.

"We talked about it this morning, and I thought I'm going to try to prolong your lives tomorrow. Tomorrow's a good day, stars aligned and such. And since the resurrection worked so well, I thought I'm just going to wing it. No need to wait any longer."

Elijah gaped at her. "Tomorrow?"

"You haven't changed your mind on surviving, have you?" she asked.

Her blasé, audacious tone was worrisome.

"Of course not, but is it wise to just wing it? After everything, shouldn't we plan ahead to make sure it will work?" he asked.

He was sure that his brother had planted this stupid idea in her head. And Elijah knew why he had done it. Briony's help had already become a big question mark. So Nik would rather let her do it as quick as possible before she changed her mind for good. But Elijah certainly wasn't going to risk his life for Briony to make up a spell on the go.

"I am pretty optimistic. I would be the first to complain about the outcome of the bridge, but have you seen how well it had worked? How much influence we had on nature? And you thought I overestimated myself! If anything, we all underestimated my powers!"

Elijah stared at her in disbelief. It seemed reckless and dangerous.

The others had gathered to listen as well.

"That's a terrible idea. It's not going to work," Davina said determined, as she stepped up to them.

Briony raised an eyebrow, but was too surprised to reply.

Elijah hadn't expected Davina to have such a strong opinion about this, either. Usually, Davina had been on board with everything Briony was doing.

"Why would you say that?" Briony asked, interested, like a teacher who was happy that her pupil started to think for herself.

Davina hesitated, then fixed her gaze on Elijah and Nik, pressing. Skeptical and with growing wariness, Elijah turned to Niklaus. Was this about Clement? Elijah had already concluded that the spell had gone well because Briony was related to the previous wizard who had cast it. Had Nik told Davina about this? His brother was observing Davina, uncomfortable, but didn't reply to her reproachful stare.

"Oh, really? I have to be the one to tell her?" Davina said, when neither of them said anything.

"Tell me what?" Briony said, her initial delight fading.

Elijah opened his mouth, but Davina already spoke.

"It wasn't a coincidence that the spell worked so strongly," Davina began. "They didn't want to tell you because they knew you wouldn't have gone through with it. The man they got the spell from, Clement - you're his daughter. That's why it had gone so well. You channelled your family's powers without knowing it."

Briony stared at her, processing. Taken aback, she then turned to Elijah and Nik, unsure.

"Is that true? How do you know it was him?"

Elijah nodded hesitantly. "You were there as a baby."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked with a vulnerable, thin voice.

Elijah hesitated, and glanced at Nik who meekly contemplated the ground. There was no way to hide the truth now.

"Why wouldn't I have gone through with it?" she asked, already anticipating an answer she wouldn't like.

After a long pause, Elijah said: "Because we got him killed."

Briony stared at him, frozen. After what felt like an eternity, she turned away with angry sigh. He could tell she was boiling up.

A few angry steps away from them, she was struggling on what to do next. He couldn't see her face, but knew that she was about to explode.

He had to say something, anything.

Before he could think of anything, she spoke in a pressing and low voice: "I am so so stupid. Why am I even helping you? You have always been there to mess up my life. Of course, you'd find a way to mess up my life retroactively and kill one of my parents…"

"Listen," he quickly said, "we're really sorry-"

"You're sorry," she interrupted them without looking at them. "That's bold. I am sure you're sorry that you couldn't keep this from me until you were safe and sound for another thousand years."

"You know it's not like that. We never wanted this!" he replied with urgency.

Then she snapped around to face him. Her eyes was furious.

"You truly put yourself over everybody else. Guess what, you're not the only ones who care about their family! Who gives you the right to decide that your lives are worth more than those that stand in your way? Not even mine? I helped you! But you don't care about me, do you? You don't care about my life or the people I love! You were just happy that you found some idiot girl that protected you from an imminent death!"

"You know that's not true," Elijah said. "You have always been one of us."

"You mean whenever I was useful? As soon as my presence got inconvenient, I was quickly taken out of the way. Everything bad that happened in my life was because of you! First you destroy my livelihood and incite everybody I knew against me to make sure I come with you-"

"We didn't do that!" Elijah interrupted her. "We never forced you to come with us. You came with us on your own terms!"

"Oh please," Briony snapped back. "We never talked about it, but we all know it was Nik who made sure my whole village knew I was a witch and wanted me gone. And despite my constant century-long loyalty you immediately killed me because you heard a rumour from a random witch that I might want to kill you. You never fully trusted me. And now I find out that you are even responsible for the fact that my mother and I had to live in hiding because you also killed my dad?"

After a pause, she added with hatred and contemplation: "I truly wish I had never met any of you."

Briony's rage had never been directed towards him. Elijah didn't know how to deal with it. It wasn't helping that the dispute had frozen and muted his brother, who only watched Briony in terror.

"Let's take a break for now. I know you're very angry at the moment, but maybe later we can…"

She interrupted him. "If you still believe that I'm going to help you now…"

She didn't finish her sentence. Instead she marched back to the car, and opened the trunk. She took her bag out.

"You can't leave now!" he said urgently.

"Yes, I can. I don't wanna see any of you ever again!"

"Briony, please. You can be as angry at me or Nik as you like. But this is bigger than us. You're not only helping us but all of those people as well!"

He waved at the rest of the group who still watched them uncomfortably from a distance.

Briony glared at him.

Then she said: "No. The way I see it, Finn, Rebekah and Marcel will be fine. They don't need my help. They have long healthy human lives ahead of them. The only ones in trouble are you two selfish little twats. And you definitely don't deserve my help."

She pulled her bag over her shoulder, and without another look, she walked down to the sidewalk. This was bad. All Elijah knew was that he couldn't let her leave. If she left now and they had to search for her, who knew how much time they would lose. With fast steps, he caught up with her. He was glad to notice that Niklaus was following him.

"Stop following me!" she shouted without stopping in her tracks.

"Let's talk about it! Don't run away!" Elijah pressed.

She didn't reply and quickened her steps into a run.

"Stop, please!" he said.

Suddenly she stopped, which made Elijah almost stumble over his own feet. Confused, he slowed down next to her. She had lowered her eyes to the ground. Her furious attitude was slowly calming down. Without paying any attention to him, she knelt down and picked up some small rocks from the pavement with her right hand. He had no idea what she was doing. But not to make her angry again, he watched her without interrupting her.

While holding on to the gravel in her palm, she whispered something to herself. He couldn't understand what she was saying. Why was this so familiar? She had done that once before. When was it? The realization hit him. She was returning to her old ways. The second he put together what she was doing, it was already to late.

"Don't you dare!" Niklaus said, who had caught on.

"Oh, this is happening!" Briony said, now looking at them with a sneer.

"Stop it!" he shouted again.

"Say goodbye to New Orleans, you bastards," Briony said, as she let go off the rocks in her hand.

A second later the much too familiar feeling of being uninvited rushed through Elijah's body, swept him off his feet and pulled him into the air high across the streets and the houses.

* * *

 _ **I hope you like the new chapter - let me know what you think! I know, I know, characters with amnesia is a bit of an old hat, but they totally have a purpose here. Also, I kinda like how they can have an unbiased look on the present time, so I'm trying to explore that as well.**_

 ** _Thanks for reading, until next time!_**


	53. Searching for Brothers

**_Present Day_**

These last few days had been most peculiar for Rebekah. And now that she had seen two of her brothers being thrown on of the city, being swept off their feet and carried away, Rebekah had no idea on whose side she was supposed to be on. Even though the situation had been very serious, and Briony seemed upset, and Elijah and Nik very worried, the whole thing looked rather funny.

There it was again. It felt like she had experienced a very similar situation with Elijah and Nik before. Or had she heard about this before? And the last time it had happened she had found it very funny.

Now Finn, Freya and she were stomping through a swampy forest looking for her brothers. Rebekah would have preferred to be alone with Finn. Something about Freya was still bothering her. But she had to admit it was good to have someone around who knew the area. By now their house and a few corners close-by felt familiar, but they had no time to do memory catch-up now. Instead Freya had driven them to the closest border of the town, a small road through a swampy forest. From there, they had continued their search on foot.

Flora had also disappeared. As a vampire, she must have been affected by the spell. Poor girl, Rebekah thought. She doubted Briony had even noticed Flora. Briony had marched away after her stunt, and disappeared before anyone could stop her. Were they supposed to stop her? The others had been too surprised to react, too. Eventually, Davina said she was going to look for her and had taken Marcel with her. She hoped that these two would find a way to talk some sense into her.

Rebekah assumed that it was most likely that her brothers would find them first and not the other way around. And she was not mistaken.

It didn't take long until one of them had caught up with her group.

"Elijah," Rebekah said, relieved.

Next to him, Flora appeared, dripping wet.

"Are you alright?" Rebekah asked.

Elijah nodded. "Nothing hurt, except my pride."

He looked a bit disheveled, but in full spirits.

"Niklaus is not with you yet?" he asked when he had glanced through their ranks.

Rebekah shook her head. "No. Why do you mean?"

"We have been looking for him. Usually we'd find each other pretty quickly in a situation like this. When he didn't show up anywhere I assumed he was with you."

"Should we be worried?" she asked.

"Not yet. He's either run off or is stuck somewhere. We'll find out soon."

"Did you try to call him?" Freya asked.

"Yes, I did try to call him," Elijah said shortly.

His tone implied this was an obsolete question.

"He didn't pick up," he added. "So I take it he doesn't want to be found."

"We should still be looking for him," Rebekah countered.

"Agreed. We don't have the time for him to pout somewhere. If that's what he's doing."

"What happened to you?" Finn asked Flora who had been pulling her wet hair into a pony tail.

"I landed in a lake," Flora said drily. "This has been truly a successful day for me. Just splendid."

"Wait," Rebekah said and took off her woollen jacket.

Nik had suggested that she should always wear several layers of clothing because she might get cold. But from running around in these warm noon hours, Rebekah felt way too hot.

"There you go," she handed the dry jacket to Flora.

"Thanks," Flora said, softer now.

"Wait," Finn said, "that has happened before, hasn't it?"

"Elijah and Nik being uninvited and literally thrown out of a place?" Rebekah laughed. "Yeah, I remember it, too."

Finn shook his head and turned to Flora. "That's not what I mean. Flora falling into a lake, because of something we did."

"Yeah, happened before. I usually get the short stick in your family matters," Flora said, relieved that Finn had a memory of her now.

Now that Finn had mentioned it, Rebekah had a vague memory of Flora in a lake, too. That was when she had died, wasn't it? They had to pull her out of the lake, and Elijah had given her blood. Rebekah had been very angry with her brothers, because these kind of things only happened when they were around. Rebekah also remembered how Flora had been jealous when her brothers and Briony had shown up, because Rebekah suddenly had spent much less time with her. Afterwards, Rebekah had felt very sorry for her. Not so much about her becoming a vampire, but the way she had treated her. She should have spent more time with Flora. Because Rebekah had the impression that Flora never had many friends before she had met Rebekah.

"So, let's get going then?" Rebekah said.

Elijah hesitated. "If possible, I'd rather have one of you go back and look for Briony."

"Maybe give her a break for once?" Rebekah said.

Elijah shook his head. "It's not about a spell. We can't let her run off by herself. It's not right. She is our friend after all. At least someone find her so we can apologize before everyone goes to hell again."

"Oh," Rebekah said, somewhat relieved. "In that case, it's taken care of. Davina and Marcel have gone after her."

Pleased enough by this reply, Elijah then returned to their initial task.

"We should split up to cover more ground. I'll check the areas farther away in case he is running away. And you check around here. Maybe he really is just stuck somewhere, maybe spiked by a tree."

Rebekah glared at him for the unnecessary visualisation.

Elijah ignored her. "Okay, I'll get going and you two human siblings split up and each go with someone more useful."

Rebekah didn't like this plan at all. Flora had already snatched Finn. Which left her with Freya.

"Elijah, a word," she said and pulled her brother a few feet away.

"You really want me to go with this stranger woman that you don't even like or trust?" she asked him in a whisper.

"Freya has helped saving you. She deserves some gratitude," he told her.

"That's why you have treated her so warmly this whole time?" Rebekah said with a raised eyebrow. "You have an issue with her, don't deny it."

Elijah hesitated."The only issue I have with her is that she never wants to help on her own."

"She didn't want to help when saving me?" Rebekah asked.

Elijah shook his head. "No, we had to blackmail her into doing it."

Before Rebekah could reply, he quickly added: "Still, she helped, and we couldn't have done it without her. I don't hate her. She just doesn't make the impression that she wants to be with us. So I'm not intrigued in getting to know her, either. But that doesn't mean she won't be useful. And she'll protect you in case something happens. I'm sure of it."

Rebekah wasn't happy about this arrangement, but Flora had already ushered Finn into one direction, and Elijah had gestured her and Freya to go the other way.

When they were alone, Freya said: "I don't know if you remember. But before you died, you had come to my apartment once and told me that I can come to you whenever I needed anything. After I lost my apartment, my friends and my whole livelihood in New Orleans, I decided to take you up on that offer and came to see you in the mansion. But you had already been gone."

This reminded Rebekah of something. It was not a memory she connected to Freya. She had always wanted a sister, she had known that already as a human. And she remembered how much anticipation she had felt when Kol had brought home the witch. She had wanted to keep her and groom her into a sister. Elijah had teased her about her weird sister fantasies. But it had worked, at least to some extent. She had liked Briony. She remembered now. For a moment, she considered Freya again. Did she have the same sister-bond feelings for her? Perhaps. She had no memories of that. But at least, she could imagine herself act the way Freya had just described.

"What were you hoping to find when you came looking for me?" she asked.

Freya hesitated. "A friend? Somebody I can trust?"

She seemed genuine. But something was bothering Rebekah. It sounded like any effort to bond with the family had stopped after she had died. Did Freya try to bond with her brothers at all in the meantime? From what she had heard, keeping Freya on board had been a constant struggle.

After a pause she said. "I know that my brothers can be very difficult. But they have accepted you and entrusted you with everything they were doing in the last months. It shows a great deal of trust on their side."

"Really? It felt like they just needed me as a blood vessel or another witch." Freya shrugged. "I helped out with so much already, and I feel like no matter what I do I will never become one of you."

"Is that what you want? Become one of us?"

Freya hesitated. Somewhat ashamed, she faced ground. Freya didn't seem ready to admit it to herself, but Rebekah figured the answer was yes.

"Have you ever shown any initiative? About anything they like?" Rebekah asked. "Helping out is one thing. But it's not the same when they have to shame you into doing it. I believe that you were genuine when you came looking for me, but my brothers might not see your true intentions."

"You… they are asking for a lot. I have to admit, I would like to get to know you better but I can't throw out all of my principles," Freya said.

"See it like this," Rebekah added. "Briony has thrown them out of the city. And they still run after her, not because they need her, because she's one of us. That's because we never forced her to do anything, but she did it anyway. You can be one of us to, but you have to show it."

* * *

 ** _Some Viking village, ca. 996_**

If his brothers got caught, Finn would loudly proclaim that he had no idea what they were doing. That they had never behaved like this before. That this was the first time that they had just run off like that, in the middle of the night. Finn wished this had been the first time that he had to run after them. But it wasn't. He had been saving his brothers from getting busted so many times before. Why was he even doing it?

At least this time, only two of them decided to revolt. Kol and Niklaus had disappeared from their cottage when everyone was asleep. After Finn had noticed their absence, he knew who to ask in order to find them. Elijah had been unusually grumpy, which meant he knew something. After some pressure on his brother, Elijah had admitted that Kol and Niklaus had gone to the small lake nearby to meet two girls from the neighbouring village. Under other circumstances, Elijah might have even been included in these plans, but he had been busy helping their parents fixing the roof that day.

Now it was up to Finn to get them back, and avoid any kind of trouble. He didn't like trouble in the family. Even if it was only Niklaus and Kol that would get a punishment, the bad mood of their parents would spread throughout the whole house. And then everyone would suffer. Also, Finn doubted that his brothers even responded to the punishments, usually in the form of hard manual labor. It had never stopped them before to do stupid things again.

As he walked along the dark uneven path through the forest that led to the lake, he heard steps running up behind him. He already knew who it was.

"Elijah, I told you not to follow me! I'm taking care of this!" he said, as he stopped and snapped around.

"Who knows where Nik and Kol went. The two of us will find them faster," Elijah said with some insolence.

The wasn't the whole truth. Finn was sure that Elijah was still jealous because he hadn't been included. Behind him, his youngest siblings, Rebekah and Henrik peaked out. Rebekah had an excited gleam in her eyes, ready for adventure. Henrik seemed nervous, but curious about this unusual hike in the middle of the night.

"Why then did you bring them?" Finn said with a raised eyebrow.

He certainly didn't want to get Rebekah and Henrik into this. Until now they had been the good kids. Their older brothers shouldn't give them bad ideas.

"Well, I couldn't leave them at home by themselves, could I?" Elijah replied.

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much," Rebekah said, rolling her eyes. "Also, there was no way I was going to miss out on this."

Finn sighed in frustration.

"Please go back, all of you!" he said pleadingly.

The three of them broke into a loud protest.

Loudly, he tried to speak over them: "I need to find Nik and Kol before mom and dad notice that they're gone. But if they notice that not only they are missing, but you three as well, they'll rip their heads off first, then yours, and then mine. And I'm not very fond of this course of events."

"Then we should find Nik and Kol as quickly as possible, and head back, shouldn't we?" Rebekah said decidedly.

With that, she took Henrik by the hand, and led the way. "This way, then?"

In the last year or so, Rebekah had become much more defiant than she used to be as a kid. Finn had credited this to her hitting puberty. He fondly remembered the time when all of his siblings were still children. They had been so much easier to handle than now when they were all teenagers. At least that's what he tried to tell himself. But if he was honest, it had always been impossible to look after his siblings, to make them listen to him. And the older they got the more difficult it had become.

With quick steps he followed Rebekah and Henrik. At least Elijah had the sense to put them in warm clothes. It was unusually cold for an autumn night.

"Why are you not with the Lily girl?" Rebekah asked, as they walked on.

"What?" Finn asked, not eager to start a conversation.

"Who's the Lily girl?" Henrik asked.

"The girl from the family living at the riverside. Finn fancies her. He has spent an awful lot time there in the last few weeks," Rebekah replied with delight.

"It's not like that," Finn said. "I helped them out around the house because her father died. I was helping them."

"Sure," Rebekah said knowingly.

She and Elijah exchanged a look and laughed.

"Shhh!" Finn said.

Not far from them there was a rustling in the leaves, foot steps rushing away from them.

Elijah and Rebekah turned quiet and listened as well.

Intuitively, they followed the source of the noise, faster and faster, getting into a run.

Suddenly they heard a loud splash. Finn sighed. One of his brothers had fallen into the lake for sure.

They ran until they had reached the small dark lake amongst the trees. Not far from them, Finn spotted Niklaus, cursing and climbing out of the water, dripping wet.

"What happened?" Finn asked him when they caught up with him.

"I tripped," Nik said.

"Where's-" Finn began to ask, but then saw the small fireside on the other side of the lake with a dark figure next to it.

"Kol, get over here! We're going home!" he shouted.

"Sorry, can't hear you!" Kol shouted back.

"What were you doing, running through the forest, Nik?" Elijah asked.

"We heard voices and thought it was mom and dad. I went to check. Then I saw it was only you."

On the other side of the lake Kol was watching them. He was too far away to hear them. Next to him, a small fire was burning, probably set up as a meeting point. Whoever they wanted to meet hadn't shown up yet. Finn doubted they ever would. None of the girls in their neighbouring village would be as stupid as to meet with his brothers in the middle of the night.

"Should we go over there?" Rebekah said, a bit too eager.

Finn ignored her. Instead he took off his jacket and handed it to Nik.

"You're gonna get ill," Finn said.

"No, I won't," Nik said annoyed but took the jacket.

It would not be the first time. Finn had once overheard his parents speak about his brother's sickly constitution. His father had said that Niklaus had always been the least likely of their children to reach adulthood. Although his mother had strongly protested about the choice of words, she hadn't disagreed. Finn had never noticed it before, but had then realized it too. Nik was usually feeling alright, and surely sharp in the head, but from all of his siblings, he was always the first to catch a cold or a fever. And he wasn't exactly careful when it came to avoiding things that weakened him. Like now, when he had landed in this pond in the middle of the freezing cold of an autumn night.

"Kol! Get your butt over here! Your brother is freezing to death!" Elijah shouted over the water.

"I'm not freezing to death. I'm fine," Nik protested, shivering.

"It's not my fault he's too stupid to follow the path without falling into ice water," they heard Kol shout from the other side.

"If Kol doesn't come over right now, we're all getting into trouble," Elijah said through gritting teeth.

Not waiting for anybody's reply, he decidedly picked up the way again leading around the lake.

"Elijah, wait!" Finn tried to shout after him.

Finn doubted that Elijah was too worried about being caught by their parents. Right now his greatest annoyance still stemmed from being excluded, and he was ready to let it out on Kol. He would make sure that Kol would get back to the village, no matter what strength it took. But Finn had no desire to fight Kol all the way back to the village.

He turned back to his other siblings. Nik was still shivering, and expected his decision.

"How about you already head back?" Finn said.

Nik bit his lip, then said: "Alright."

Finn was surprised to hear no further protest. His brother must have been very cold.

"And take these two with you?" he nodded at Rebekah and Henrik.

"No way," Rebekah said.

Rebekah usually followed wherever Nik was going, but tonight she seemed to hope for more action. Finn gave Nik a nod that he should go.

"Come on then," Nik said to Henrik, and they headed back to the village.

With quick steps Finn and Rebekah followed his path around the lake, but Elijah was long gone.

When they had reached the fireside, Kol and Elijah had already been wrestling. In an extremely stupid attempt, Elijah tried to pull Kol away by his legs while Kol laboriously clambered himself to a root.

"Let go off me!" Kol shouted, trying to kick and push his brother off.

Despite being a few years younger, he managed to fight off Elijah with almost equal strength. Still grabbing at the root, he kicked Elijah in his face.

"Stop it, Elijah," Finn tried to sound calming, "this won't lead to anything. Do you really want to wrestle Kol all the way back to the village?"

"If that's the only way to get him back, yeah," Elijah replied, still tearing at Kol with all his strength.

With great reluctance Finn tried to get between them and pulled Elijah away by his shoulder. He fell to the ground across from Kol who looked at him with a grimace.

"Nobody is forcing you to come back, Kol! Either you come with us and nothing bad will happen, except that you might have missed the chance to meet some girl that probably won't show up anyway. Or you stay here and we go back without you. Which means that mom and dad will find out that you have gone out in the middle of the night by yourself, and you probably won't see anything but the insides of the stables and big piles of horse manure for a very long time."

Kol glared at him. "This is only going to happen if you two traitors rat me out to them."

"I won't tell them, I promise," Finn said.

"I might," Elijah glared at Kol, while rubbing his cheek.

"We won't tell them," Finn said, "but still consider if staying here is worth it. Because no matter if we tell them or not, the chance that our parents will notice your absence is very high."

Mutinously, Kol sat on the ground with crossed arms, not budging.

For a while they stared at each other, Kol sceptically glancing from Finn to Elijah. Finn had the impression that Kol was waiting for them to attack him again. When after a full minute Kol still didn't show any sign of giving in, Finn said: "Don't say we didn't try. Have fun in the stables for the next year."

He held out his arm to Elijah, who hesitantly took it and got up.

Elijah opened his mouth to protest. Then he seemingly changed his mind, and angrily strode away from the fire.

"Come on," Finn said to Rebekah, who had watched the spectacle with great interest.

He took her by the hand and pulled her away from the fireside.

When they were out of Kol's sight, Rebekah said: "We could get Elijah back. I can talk to him. The two of you could easily carry him, you know."

"I know," Finn said.

"But? You rather wanna see him getting busted?" Rebekah said unsure.

Finn slowed down his steps.

"No."

Rebekah stopped as well and observed at him inquisitively.

"Carrying him home is still the backup plan," Finn said. "But I hope we don't have to resort to it."

Shortly after they heard steps coming from the fireside.

A second later, Kol passed them with crossed arms, decidedly ignoring them.

With relief Finn watched him following same path Elijah had gone. "It's easier to convince people when they have a choice to do so. Force doesn't exactly remind people like Kol that they could act sensibly."

* * *

 _ **Yay new update! I hope you like it! I don't have anything to add right now, so just let me know what you think!**_


	54. Low Spirits

**_Present Day_**

"There you are!" she shouted breathlessly. "We've been looking for you everywhere."

It felt like she had been running through the forest for hours. Her legs felt sore and her sides ached. Running was exhausting. Somehow this felt like a new experience.

Unmoved, Niklaus was lying on the mossy ground, half-hidden by the thickest. At first she thought he might not be able to get up. But apparently he was lying there on his own accord. He looked alright. Rebekah wondered if that's where he had landed after he had been thrown out of town. That had been many hours ago.

"We?" he asked, lifting his head.

"Elijah, Finn, Flora, Freya and I," she said.

His head fell on the ground again, dispirited by the reply.

"Are you okay?" she asked, when he showed neither intention of getting up, nor engaging with her.

"Okay, yes," he said, his voice having an apathetic ring.

With great reluctance, he lifted himself up on his elbows.

"Are you?" he asked, when he watched her breathing heavily.

"I feel like I haven't been this much out of breath in a very long time," she said, amused by her own assessment.

"You haven't," he said with a weak smile and sat up.

Since he still showed no interest in getting up, Rebekah sat down next to him, eager to stretch her burning legs.

"Why haven't you come looking for us?" she asked.

He shrugged with a long sigh. "That had been my first instinct. The old solution mode. Go find you guys and figure out what to do next. Maybe convince Freya to do research on prolonging our lives, while one of you goes find Briony and talk to her. Try to persuade her to come back. But then, I thought, the chance that any of this would work out is abysmally small. No, non-existent. Might as well not go find you, and instead lie here quietly and count my days. Also, lying on that uncomfortable thorny tree trunk has really grown on me."

He wiped off some thorns and dirt from his sleeves. Being so pessimistic was very unusual for her brother.

"The situation is not as helpless as you make it out to be. I know that's new territory for you, but just because you haven't figured out the solution right away doesn't mean there isn't one. You can talk to me or Elijah or Finn, and we can figure out something together," she said.

The words felt empty and repetitive. Rebekah was painfully aware of that. But she certainly wasn't giving up because Nik had a low. Also, she had an idea where this sudden pessimism was coming from.

"Where are the others?" he asked, as he glanced around. "Wait, were you running through the forest by yourself?"

"Relax, I wasn't alone. Although I would have been perfectly fine walking through a forest on my own. It's one of the few things that hasn't changed much in the last thousand years. Freya is somewhere close-by. Although I'm sure I would have been safer alone than when she's around."

"She's alright, Rebekah. You can't judge everybody without remembering what happened in the last thousand years," Nik said.

"I suppose not," Rebekah said. "But you can still read a lot from the way you behave. And that gives me a good idea of whom I can trust. You, Elijah and Finn are still the way I remember, so no questions there. Marcel seems to know me and is nice to me, and you care about him, so I believe he's good. Same goes for the small witch, Davina. I have no idea where I stand with Flora at the moment, but I have some vague memories of her being my friend. But there's no way I'm trusting Freya, because you guys obviously don't, either. And as for the one who had just sent you flying out of the city - not once, not even now, you show any intention of wanting to harm Briony or that you were angry with her, so I guess she's in the circle of trust."

And Rebekah was still pretty sure that he had a crush on the last one, but she doubted he'd admit to this now.

Her brother considered her for a moment.

"Am I right?" she asked.

"Pretty much," he said.

"You said you remembered a few more things?" he added.

She nodded.

"This whole fighting and shouting this morning has done wonders for my amnesia," Rebekah said, trying to cheer him up. "It reminded me of many family fights, or that last time where you flew over a meadow. It really put things into perspective."

"Glad to hear something good came out of it," he said.

After a pause he asked: "Do you remember about that time she spoke of, where I supposedly told her village she was a witch?"

Rebekah nodded. "Yeah, I remember how we picked her up in the village and everything was destroyed."

He nodded.

"I didn't do it," he said. "I wasn't even in the country anymore when any of this happened."

Rebekah watched him curiously. "How do you explain then what happened in that village?"

He shrugged. "Unlucky coincidence? The villagers must have figured it out on their own. She wasn't exactly subtle with her powers."

Rebekah observed him. "Elijah and I always thought you did it."

Annoyed by his siblings' distrust, he raised his voice: "Why would I even do that? I doesn't make any sense. I wanted her to like me so she'd help us."

"Well, she did end up coming with us. So we thought that had been your plan all along. But yeah, I always thought it had been pretty stupid of you to piss her off like that right from the beginning. Force is not the best way to convince people in the long run."

"It does explain why she never liked me very much."

She considered her brother's words for a moment, and tried to think back to that time and everything that had happened since. How odd it was that such a small moment in time had influenced the relationship her brother and Briony had, and the things she had done for them. There had been a great mistrust between the two, beginning right there. Briony might have said she'd help him, but in the first century she had done it pretty half-heartedly. They might have known many things sooner if Briony had more reason to trust.

Rebekah had been too afraid to ask Nik back then how involved he had been with the riot in Briony's village. Because she had been afraid of the answer. If only she had asked. If her brother had told them back then how he had nothing to do with it, Briony would have had no reason to dislike him and they all might be at a very different place than they were today.

That didn't mean their relationship was still the same now, 200 years later. Rebekah had no idea if Nik ever considered that. Nik tended to mistrust people about their intentions, and generally believed that they cared less about him than they usually did. But with Briony it was different. She wondered if he was truly ignorant of the friendship he had with her. And had for a while. She should talk to him about it, when they had more privacy without Freya looming close-by.

But for now, she needed her brother to come back with her.

"In your case, I might suggest telling people more often that you don't want to kill them. It should help with the bonding," she said with a teasing smile.

"You have only been back for a few days - how come I already find you annoying?" he asked.

"See, these are the kind of things you shouldn't say to people that you want to befriend."

He gave her a nudge and got up.

"Let's go find Freya and get back to the others," he said, and held out a hand to get her up.

"And we don't distrust Freya. Else she wouldn't be here," he added.

"I know, I know," Rebekah waved him down. "Elijah told me about it. And I'm starting to see that it's not so black and white with her either. I have talked to her. I think she genuinely wants to get to know us. Perhaps after some time she might even get around to like us."

"For once, time is not something at our disposal," Nik said. "At least not for some of us."

At this moment, Freya appeared between the trees. Rebekah wasn't sure if she had heard what they had been talking about. Her face didn't give anything away.

"You found him!" she said to Rebekah with relief. "It's getting dark. The others must be worried."

"Let's go back then," Rebekah said.

Freya led the way on the path leading back to the car. Hesitantly, she looked over her shoulder to face Nik.

"So that's it? You think Briony is not going to help you anymore? Perhaps someone who's not expelled from the city can go talk to her?"

Nik kept his eyes on the roots that disrupted the path. "I think she knows how much we need this. Everyone knows how much we need this. No need to pester her with questions."

After a pause he added: "To be honest, I don't mind. I mean, I do mind about the outcome. I really do. But it doesn't have to be her who helps us. We keep putting her through hell and I'm feeling terrible enough about it as it is."

Then he turned to Rebekah. "At least you, Finn and Marcel will be okay. For a while."

Nodding herself into a temporary acceptance, she said: "Okay. We'll figure this out later. Let's try to focus on the things we can change right now. For example, no need for you to be in a depressed state while we should worry about bigger things. I need you in full capacity now."

"Uhm, I'm pretty sure my bad mood and the fact that I'm going to die soon might correlate. But that's just a guess, really," Nik said sarcastically.

"No, they don't," Rebekah said. "And we can do something about your spirits."

"What else could it be?" he asked. "What to do you want me to do about it?"

"Honestly?" Rebekah said. "Apologize to Briony. No matter if she'll help or not, the situation with her is not as dire as you might think."

He shrugged, which she interpreted as a sort of agreement. "Best case, I die with the knowledge that one person fewer was planning to murder me."

Despite his snotty reply, she was sure that her message had reached him. While a talk with Briony might not fix his predicament with death, it would fix his mind.

* * *

 ** _Some Viking village, ca. 996_**

Ridden by weird fever dreams that pulled him out of his deep sleep ever and again, Nik uncomfortably turned in his bed. His body felt like it was on fire, and yet still stuck in the piercing ice lake. His head was pounding. With great unease, he opened his eyes. When he realized where he was, Niklaus practically jumped out of his bed. He was not supposed to be sleeping during the day. Only ill people did that. He was not ill.

With weak legs he climbed out of his bed and rubbed his sweat-ridden face. Standing up was painful, but he struggled through it. He had been through worse, he said to himself. Common sense would have told him to lie down again and rest. But that would mean to admit that he was sick. And he wasn't. This wasn't a fever. He just felt a bit heated from the last few busy days, that was all. It probably had nothing to do with the fact that he had fallen into that cold lake. Just a weird coincidence, he told himself.

But no matter how much he had insisted he was fine, everybody had been staring at him with pity in their faces. He hated those stares.

Focusing wholly on trying to look normal, he tiptoed into the kitchen. He was hoping it would be empty, but Rebekah was sitting at the kitchen table, cutting beetroots. Quietly Nik moved through the room, trying not to raise any suspicion.

This did not work.

"How are you? Are you getting sick again?" Rebekah asked, when she saw him.

Her face was concerned and full of skepticism.

"No. I was never sick." Nik said decidedly. "Stop asking me this. I've just been a bit cold in the last few days. That's normal after falling into a half frozen pond."

This was his usual approach to days like these. Staying healthy was matter of state. A cold, a stupid fever was not allowed to kill him.

Rebekah's expression of skepticism didn't change. With resignation, she turned back to the beetroot.

"Where is everybody?" Nik asked.

"Most of them are at the market," Rebekah said.

"Why didn't they ask me to go? I'm usually going along with them," Nik said.

Rebekah hesitated. She was afraid of stating the obvious.

To his surprise, she went with the blunt truth. "You're no use in the state you're in right now. After last night, we are just glad you are still alive."

Hearing the truth didn't make him feel better. Even in his fever dream state, he had felt how much his body had been fighting to stay alive the night before. He was hoping he had been imagining it. But Rebekah's words just confirmed what he had already known. Despite his attempt to appear fit, he sank down on the chair opposite Rebekah.

Rebekah's eyes still rested on him, but it felt like she was watching right through him.

He had no desire to ask her what she was thinking about.

"Death. It's a weird concept, isn't it?" she said gravely.

That was his least favourite part about his own possible demise. How it affected those around him. They must be worried so much. He would be if the roles were reversed.

"Yeah," he said uncomfortably.

"I don't care much for it," she said.

"I doubt anyone does."

Outside he heard someone chopping wood. He peeked over to the small window and saw Kol splitting a pile of logs into halves. Nik had even less interest talking to him than to Rebekah. Ever since the incident with the lake, he was annoyed with his brother. Kol was supposed to be beside him when had fallen into the lake, but Kol had snuck back to the fire before Nik had noticed. Technically, it wasn't Kol's fault that Nik landed in the frozen lake and got sick, but Nik still felt like blaming his brother and his smug face.

"On the bright side," Rebekah said, regaining a lighter tone, "none of us got caught in the forest. Mother and father just think you caught a cold from one of our neighbours. At least none of us has to do extra chores."

He shot her a skeptical glance. She was much too happy about their trip to the woods. Then he remembered that, until now, Rebekah had never been involved in their little rebellions before. Finally being part of such a thing seemed to excite her.

"You've never had to do extra chores, Rebekah," Nik said with a smile.

"And I like to keep it that way. None of you look very happy when you have to do laborious work. You're very lucky that Finn got you back in time."

Despite Rebekah's reminiscence of their sneaking out, Nik hoped she was done recapulating the events, because they'd eventually end up with him being sick again. So he said nothing.

"You know how Finn convinced Kol to come back?" Rebekah asked, not bothered that she was having the conversation on her own.

"Reason," she added smartly.

"Uh-huh," Nik mumbled disinterested.

"You should try it sometimes," Rebekah added.

Nik shot her an annoyed glare.

Untouched by it, Rebekah continued: "I for my part thought it was really smart. The rest of you always try to force each other to do things in the most brutal way possible, but are only half as successful as Finn. He gets things done much more easily, because he knows how to talk to people in a way that convinces them to follow his lead without them even noticing they're doing it."

Nik wondered where this sudden reverence for Finn came from.

Shortly after, the door opened and Kol appeared. His view immediately fell on his brother.

"Great, you're awake," he said with relief.

There was the same pity in his voice Nik had already heard from Rebekah.

"Yup," Nik said.

"I feel like it's my fault you fell into that stupid lake. Just because I wanted to stay by the fire and you had to go check who was coming. Also, I laughed when I heard you falling in. Sorry for that."

"Screw you, Kol," Nik said annoyed, avoiding his brother's eyes.

"Since you almost died last night I'm gonna let that slide. I'd be annoyed with me, too."

"I didn't almost die," Nik said defiantly. "I'm fine!"

Kol was about to join them at the table, so Nik stood up quickly to avoid any further pity talk.

"I have chores to do," Nik said impatiently.

"Not really, you don't," Rebekah said. "You should rest."

"Is that what our parents had said? I'm pretty sure they have given you some instructions for me to do when I'm well enough."

"They did. _If you were well enough,_ they said, you should go outside and chop wood."

Nik nodded determined and was about to step outside. Then he stopped.

He turned to Kol.

"But you already did that."

"You're welcome."

"Actually," Rebekah said, "it was my idea. I told Kol to do it."

"No, you didn't," Kol said affronted. "Don't take credit for me being nice, Rebekah. I did it out of my own kind heart."

Nik bit his lip. He was still intent on being annoyed at Kol, but he had to admit that what his brother had done was pretty nice.

"Anyhow, you can thank me later," Kol said, grabbed one of the coats and left for outside again.

"What a moron," Rebekah said after Kol had left the kitchen. "Of course he thinks it's his idea."

Hesitantly, Nik sat down at the table again.

Rebekah took this as a sign of interest in her thoughts. "All I said was that someone had to chop the wood because you weren't going to do it. You're way too sick for that. And when mother and father would realize it, they'd ask how it came about you were so sick. And then all would come back to you and Kol sneaking out in the middle of the night. So I suggested it would be best if the chores got out of the way."

Nik considered her. "Why didn't you simply tell him to do it?"

Rebekah raised her eyebrows. "Can't you imagine his reply to that? ' _How stupid do you think I am? Why don't you find some other idiot who does your chores?_ '"

Her impression of their brother had been surprisingly spot-on.

"Wait," Nik suddenly said, "did you test Finn's approach on how to convince people on Kol?"

Rebekah gleamed that he had finally caught on. Nik had to admit that he was impressed by his little sister.

Rebekah nodded proudly. "The trick is to let him believe it is his choice."

Nik considered her. Convincing Kol to do his chores was in the end certainly a kind thing to do, just like when Finn kept them all from being busted. But at the same time, Nik wondered if Rebekah had just found herself an effective way to manipulate people.

* * *

 _ **New update! I hope you liked it! Also, I heard that TO just aired its finale this week, which is somewhat fitting because I'm writing the ending for this story atm as well. I haven't seen the finale episode but I read some pointers what it was about, and was kinda relieved to know that my story doesn't end up at the same place. Not because I think it's bad or anything, just thought that would be a bit odd. Was it good? Would you recommend to watch it?**_

 _ **Anyhow, more to come soon. Let me know what you think!**_


	55. Make Good

_**Sorry for the break, but at least it's a pretty long chapter :-)**_

* * *

 **Present Day**

The all too familiar streets and building fronts towered around Davina, as she and Marcel strode through the French Quarter with fast steps. She gladly volunteered to look for Briony. As soon as the rest would find the vampires outside the city borders, she was sure, they'd either be furious or gloomy. And Davina didn't want to deal with either of that.

It felt weird to walk around in New Orleans, her and Marcel. Just the two of them, without the original vampires or resurrected witches, it felt almost like the old days. Except this human Marcel was pretty clueless. His memories about New Orleans were still incomplete. He was familiar with the general structure of the neighbourhood but didn't remember most of the recent coven members. At least he had accepted that he and Davina were friends. Davina felt oddly protective of him. Without his vampire senses nor the ability to recognize who wants to hurt him, he stood no chance in this town. She didn't want to imagine what the coven would do to him when they found them.

They had passed the old witch bar hangout earlier, _House Voltaire_. It had been completely boarded up. After the fights and destruction they had in there, it was no surprise nobody had bothered to restore it. Yet something told her that the coven was not gone for good.

After hours of walking through the streets and looking into every possible restaurant, bar and shop, they finally recognized the witch they were looking for in a small bar with tall windows. Briony was sitting at a small bistro table right at the window. Hers and Davina's eyes had found each other almost simultaneously.

Briony didn't seem very surprised to see them.

"There you are," Davina said, after they had entered the bar and walked up to her table.

"Yup," Briony replied shortly.

"Are you here to persuade me to come back?" she asked.

"No," Davina said quickly, as she sat down next to her. "We wanted to see how you were. The vampires don't deserve all the compassion in this story. We are on your side. Right, Marcel?"

She gave him a nudge.

Marcel nodded and sat down as well, then said: "Considering that you saved my life, yes, definitely."

"Are you now?" Briony said quietly, looking from one to the other.

Her eyes rested on Davina. "From what I gathered, the brothers were not the only ones who didn't tell me the truth."

Still talking to Davina, she glanced to Marcel. "But you were right, I would have never done it if I knew."

"Sorry," Davina said, feeling that this apology wouldn't cut it.

Briony waved her down. "You're not the one I'm angry about."

For a moment they were sitting in silence.

Marcel suddenly spoke up.

"In the last few days I was pretty overwhelmed. It felt like everything was far beyond my powers. But complaining with you about the downsides of staying with that crazy family - that's something I can do."

Briony's face grew softer. "What do you wanna complain about?"

"The lack of privacy? How they make decisions for you? The stubbornness?" he said.

Briony smiled.

Marcel continued. "Have they ever told you about that time where someone had repainted my whole house without even telling me about it? Nik had said there had been an issue with blood splatters on the walls, and used it as an opportunity to paint the whole thing. One day I came home and found some workers there painting everything a weird green. Who does that?!"

Briony laughed.

"You lost your privilege to decide on wall colours the moment you stayed with them," she replied with a smirk.

Then she sighed. "After all this time, I'd say it's also my fault. Nobody forced me to stay with you vampires. I could have easily walked away from you and have an easy life."

"But it wouldn't have been the same, would it?" Marcel said.

Briony shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway. We can complain about the past as much as we like. It won't change their bleak future."

Marcel looked at her with some resignation. Davina had felt Briony's surrender as well.

"You're saying it's time to accept that we can't help them," Davina said, trying to wrap her head around it.

"No!" Marcel interrupted her. "They are still our friends!"

"If there's something you can do. Or if you have any idea where to start, we should do it!" he added decisively.

"You don't understand. I don't think I can do it anymore," she said.

"What do you mean?" Marcel asked.

"Emotionally. I don't know how I've ended up like this. Losing a family - I have been through this before, a long time ago. Parents, husband, children, I learnt to let them go because I chose a life for myself where I would outlive them all. It was hard to accept, but everyone has to go through partings, no matter how old you get. Somehow I let myself persuade to forget this. Don't get me wrong, you, Rebekah and Finn - it's wonderful to see you back alive. I wish you a long and happy life. But I honestly don't know anymore how I convinced myself to do it."

After a pause she added: "It might have been Nik's and Elijah's desperate faces. Yeah, it was that. If I hadn't helped them, they wouldn't have rested until they found somebody else. And I'm positive that there is nobody on this earth besides me who would have done it."

She looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry if I have to disappoint and hurt you now by not helping them. But I just can't do it."

Davina's eyes shortly glanced over the room, and her heart fell into a deep dark pit. At a table she recognized a man and a woman. Both were from the coven. With narrowed eyes, they were watching her and her table with suspicion. Then Davina noticed Louis who was standing at the bar, looking at her with the greatest bewilderment. What had she walked into? Why were there so many witches here?

She had to do something. Louis was the only way to keep the whole situation to turn into a brawl.

"I'll be right back," Davina said, and got up.

Marcel and Briony looked at her surprised but then continued their conversation.

"New job?" she asked Louis nervously, when she had reached the bar.

"I knew something magical was up with those earthquakes," Louis said. "And now that I see you here, I guess that was all you who put the town into an emergency state? Her in particular?"

He nodded to Briony.

"I sense you already know the answer," Davina said.

Davina glanced over to the witches on the table who still observed her and Marcel. Now there were three.

"Is this a new witch hangout?" she asked quietly.

"So you have figured that part out, good. Why on earth would you come in here then?!" Louis tried to keep his voice as quiet as possible. "You remember what you did and how the coven feels about you, right?"

"It was a coincidence, I promise," Davina said.

Louis sighed. "You shouldn't be here. They might not know who she is, but they'll put two and two together when you and Marcel are around."

The witches in the back shot glares at her and Marcel, and their body language basically screamed fight.

Louis had noticed them too. "You must leave right now. They're angry, but they don't know what they're facing with Marcel and Briony. I don't want Marcel ripping any witch heads off today."

"Louis, so much has happened in the meantime. The vampires are not here anymore. And Marcel is no threat. He-"

She couldn't continue, when a man had walked up to Marcel. Davina sprang up, getting ready.

"I give you one chance to get up and leave, Marcel," the man said.

Marcel looked at the man confused and annoyed. "Have we met before?"

Exhausted, Briony turned to the man. "I have had some rather tough days. So whatever problem you have with us being here I couldn't care less."

"I'm not talking to you, sweetheart."

That was obviously not the answer Briony wanted to hear.

"It seems like we haven't been properly introduced," she said as she sat up straight.

"Let's postpone the proper introductions for another time. We should go!" Davina had rushed over to the table and tried to usher her two friends out of their seats.

None of them paid her any attention.

"You have some nerve showing up here! After everything that happened!" the man said with rage, facing Marcel again.

Marcel might not remember his enemies in New Orleans. But Davina was sure that his instinct told him to counteract when people talked down on him like this. She saw his eyes narrow.

Then many things happened almost simultaneously. The second Marcel got up, the man had grabbed the bistro table and threw it over. Briony had jumped up, too. And before the man could attack Marcel, he suddenly fell onto his knees, holding his head in pain, shrieking. From the corner of her eyes, Davina saw how Briony had stretched out her hand. A second man appeared out of nowhere, but before he had reached them, Marcel had grabbed a chair and smashed it over his head.

"Stop it!" Davina shrieked. "Stop it!"

She grabbed Briony by her arm, trying to stop her.

"Let's go! Let's go! Please!" she repeated.

Outside, people were gathering. All had angry faces, ready to fight if necessary. Although neither Marcel nor Briony seemed very worried by this, the gathering crowd made them look up.

"Come on, back door," Louis said and gestured them to follow him.

Again, Davina pulled at both Briony's and Marcel's arms, and this time they reluctantly followed her.

After they had passed a dimly-lit hallway, they exited the house and reached a small alley where Louis locked the door behind them.

"I know I've said it before, but this was the last time I helped you. Maybe you could return the favour by not coming back?"

"Whatever. This bar sucks anyway," Briony said.

"Still charming, this resurrected witch," Louis said, trying to sound not offended.

Then he turned to Davina. "I'm not speaking about the bar. You must leave town, the country, preferably. After all those fights and deaths, the coven already swore to kill every vampire crossing the town borders. But after the earthquakes last week, it's more than that. It's not personal anymore. And they want to get rid off you no matter where you are. Many witches of the coven see it as their duty to nature to reinstate balance and destroy the original vampires for good, with any means necessary. If we know where you are, someone will come after you."

"But you don't understand, Louis. Everything's changed. There are no vampires in New Orleans anymore. It's over now. There won't be any more disturbances."

"You're not expecting me to believe you, right?" Louis said with skepticism, nodding to Marcel.

"As I was trying to tell you before, Marcel is not a vampire anymore."

"How?" Louis asked.

It was time to tell him the whole truth. She told him how Marcel and Rebekah had died and how they brought them back, and how Briony had cast the vampires out of town. Davina had left out the part how Niklaus and Elijah were still facing their demise. Louis didn't need to know about that, she thought.

Louis looked at her in surprise and bewilderment.

Very awkwardly, Louis touched Marcel's arm, and seemed amazed.

"Warm," he said. "Fascinating."

Marcel stared at him with skepticism.

"Marcel doesn't remember you," Davina quickly said.

But Briony looked just as confused.

"We have met before," Louis said with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't think so," she said.

"Yes, you did," Davina said. "We were in his apartment after I found you, remember?"

Briony looked at them blankly.

"Yeah, you only destroyed half my bedroom furniture, no big deal," Louis said drily.

"Right," Briony replied, uninterested.

"There are no vampires in town anymore? They are truly all gone? And you won't reverse it?" Louis asked her.

"I'm not planning on it," Briony said.

Louis nodded himself into understanding. "Okay, I think I have a plan. I think I'll be able to convince the coven to leave you guys alone as long as you won't come back to New Orleans. I can sell the banishing of the vampires as a truce that the coven would accept."

Bangs drummed from the other side of the door.

"You better leave," Louis said, "I can't promise anything but I think they won't follow you if you disappear right now."

Davina nodded. Having given up on their urge to fight as well, Marcel and Briony followed her lead. They ran down the small alley back to the main street. All they needed now was a quick way to escape.

* * *

Freya had arrived just in time. She had expected that whatever Briony did in town would not end quietly. She had no idea though, why Briony had chosen to go to a bar full of witches. It must have been the new meeting point for the coven. When Freya had stopped the car, she saw Davina, Marcel and Briony come running out of the alley next to it. Trouble was already here.

Briony had seen Freya first. She stopped the two others and pointed at the car. They all adapted their route and ran towards Freya.

Davina pulled the door to the passenger's seat open.

"Excellent timing!" she said out of breath.

"Should I even ask?" Freya asked skeptically.

"Maybe later, when the mob stops following us. How did you find us so quickly?" Davina asked, as she climbed in.

"Location spell. We're witches, Davina," Freya said with a sigh.

As the three got into her car, she caught herself staring longingly into the bar. She had never been inside, but in those few seconds she recognized some of her old friends. Louis was there too. She doubted that he, or any of them, would ever talk to her again. Not while she was still with her siblings.

A fleeting thought crossed her mind, how easily she could stay here. Her old coven might even forgive her when everybody from her family was gone. Especially if they knew how she had turned her back on them and didn't help them survive. And if no counter-measures were taken soon, Elijah and Niklaus would be gone anyway. The problems of having a vampire family were basically over. All she had to do was wait them out. But was that what she wanted?

Turning her back on her siblings felt very wrong. Worse than helping them.

She had to make a decision.

She quickly glanced at Davina on the passenger's seat and Marcel and Briony in the rear mirror.

"Let's go then," she said.

Without looking back once, Freya drove away from the French Quarter, towards the town border.

"I had no idea that I was so unpopular in New Orleans," Marcel said confused, as they slowly drove through the outer neighbourhoods. "Did I know about this?"

"I doubt you were ever bothered by that before," Davina replied.

"What did they say?" Freya asked. "In the bar?"

"Not much," Davina said. "I guess we formed some sort of truce. They don't want us to come back but they let us go, because they're rid of the vampires."

Marcel leaned forward to talk to Freya. "Didn't you tell us that the first plan from the coven was to ban the original vampires from New Orleans? Find a way to keep them out?"

"Yeah?" Freya said.

"But then you tried to resurrect a witch, which we all know did not turn out the way you had planned?" he added.

"What are you on about?" Freya asked, frustration rising.

"Well," Marcel said, "Briony did what you guys wanted all along. She banned the vampires from New Orleans. It's kinda ironic, isn't it?"

With a sigh, she looked at Marcel through the read mirror. Briony wasn't paying attention to either of them and stared outside the window, lost in thoughts.

After he didn't get any further reaction, Marcel shrugged. "If you think about it, it's pretty funny."

"Yeah, you're right," Davina joined in with a laugh. "She did what the coven meant to do all along."

As they drove up to the old lodge they had set up as the meeting point, Freya felt a sense of relief. It felt right to come here. This was where she belonged now, wasn't it? Davina jumped out of the car, and Marcel followed her, and they joined the rest of the group who had waited on the porch. Her siblings had watched them arrive, seemingly approving that Freya had brought all of them back. Briony showed no intention of leaving the car and still looked outside the window. Freya considered striking up a conversation. She felt like it was her duty now too to at least persuade her to help. But she couldn't think of anything to say.

Slowly she got out of the car. She took a few steps towards the group but then stopped. Thousands of thoughts flew through her mind. She needed time to think.

It was time to admit something to herself. She couldn't lie to herself any longer.

She wanted her siblings to like her. She really did. Despite all the horrors and worries of the last months, it felt good to be part of something. And despite the many disagreements she had with her brothers, they never truly pushed her away. They had accepted her in a way that you could only expect from family.

She had promised herself to stay true to her principles. But what had that brought her? Being alone all the time?

If she was honest, she had already thrown these principles far out of the window when she had helped to bring back Rebekah, Finn and Marcel. Perhaps she was long past a point of redemption. Yet when she stayed with them, she feared to go only further away from a right cause.

Deep in conversation, her siblings and the rest didn't notice her. Wringing her hands, she turned around and walked up a small path into the woods, away from everybody.

She must have walked for a while, unable to decide. Suddenly she stopped.

"Screw this," she said to herself.

She knew exactly what she had to do to solve her problems.

* * *

"I honestly have no recollection of any of these people," Marcel shrugged disinterested, after they were back inside the house. "Didn't seem that important to me."

He and Davina had given the siblings a rundown of what had happened in town. Flora shook her head in disbelief that they had managed to stir up so much violence in the short time they were there. Niklaus quietly listened. He was not surprised that they had faced so much resistance from the witches. At least, he thought with relief, Marcel was not completely helpless as a human.

"Wait," Rebekah said suddenly, "the one that helped you escape. Wasn't that the one with the werewolf venom baseball bat? And we were in his apartment once?"

"Riiight, the apartment!" Marcel suddenly said.

"Really, now you remember?" Davina said frustrated.

Nik wasn't interested in any of this. They had a truce with the witches now. So what? It made no difference to him if they wanted to kill him or not.

Rebekah had been right, while there were some things he couldn't change at the moment, he could at least get some peace of mind.

It was the time to make good with those he cared about. Ever since Rebekah and Finn were back, things with Elijah had been okay. But to some extent he was still angry with his brother, and he wasn't sure that Elijah had truly forgiven him, either. And in the situation with Briony he mostly felt remorse.

He had no idea who he should talk to first. Which one would be easier? Elijah or Briony? Both talks seemed incredibly hard. Neither of the conversations were tempting, yet he craved for them to be over. Eventually, he decided to talk to Briony first. 1000 years of issues against 300 years. If Nik started to stir up 1000-year-old problems now, he might make the situation with his brother worse. Although he had no idea what to say to Briony, it still seemed the easier task.

Neither Briony nor Freya had joined the rest when Davina had told them what happened, so Nik assumed they were still at the car. As he walked there, his legs uncontrollably slowed down. Apologizing or making good with people always felt like the hardest thing in the world to him. There were so many things that could go wrong, and for Niklaus they usually did. Despite his bad feeling, he kept walking.

Briony was still sitting in the backseat, watching out of the window, thinking. He figured she was staying in the car to avoid people. To his relief, Freya wasn't there. Apologizing while other people were around would have been even worse.

Briony only noticed him when he had opened the door on the opposite side. Surprised, she sat up straight up and watched him skeptically.

"Do you want me to leave? Or send me flying a few miles further away again?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, bad joke," he added.

Her face grew milder. "It's fine. You can stay if you like."

He sat down next to her.

"Where did Freya go?" he asked.

He searched the surroundings outside, somewhat worried that she was about to appear and interrupt him.

"I long gave up on keeping track on Freya's doings," she said.

A silence followed that probably was shorter than Nik had experienced it. Not sure what to do with his hands, he started to outline the seams along his seat.

Trying not to upset her, he began slowly: "Listen, I'm really sorry we didn't tell you about your family. I didn't know what else to do."

He somewhat expected her to shout at him the way she did the day before, but she didn't.

Instead, she said: "You were right. I don't think I would have wanted to help you, knowing what you did. But it feels wrong to regret it now that Rebekah, Marcel and Finn are back and alive. If I'm being honest, I wouldn't want it the other way around. Those things with my family happened so long ago that I can't possibly wish for a different outcome. It would mean wishing for a completely different life than the one I had."

"And you don't want that?"

She shook her head.

"You didn't mean it when you said you wished you'd never met us?"

"No."

"I wouldn't want that either," he said.

Worried that he got too close to issues he wasn't ready to admit, he tried to get back to his weak attempt of an apology. "Be that as it may. You still have the right to be angry."

Briony gave a weak smile. "What would be the use in that?"

Nik shrugged. "I don't know. It's good to rub it into people's faces that you were in the right."

"You'd certainly think that," she said with a small laugh.

"Another thing," he added, after a pause. "It doesn't really matter in the big picture. But I wanted you to know, I didn't do it. I didn't turn the whole village against you so that you'd come with us."

"What?" Briony said surprised.

There was skepticism in her eyes.

"I know everybody had jumped to that conclusion, but I swear it wasn't me," he said honestly.

She considered him for a moment.

"Okay," she said.

She seemed to try to wrap her head about that information. From what he could tell, she believed him.

"I'm sorry for teasing you and continually being in your way for the first decades. I guess that was a bit uncalled for."

He waved her down. "You don't need to apologize for that. I'm not here for your apologies."

"What are you here for?"

He looked at her, surprised that she hadn't caught on. "To apologize to you."

"Fine. I forgive you," she said.

"Please don't just say that because you're thinking I'm about to die," he added drily.

"I'm not!" she said quickly.

She grew louder and more agitated."And I don't want you to die! I really don't! Don't think I gave up because I want this!"

He didn't mean to upset her with this. Before he could reply, she continued, almost shouting now.

"I have thought about all the options! None of them work! I wanted to help! I don't know what to do! It's all I think about - but there's nothing I can do!"

"It's fine! I'm not asking you to!"

"But-"

"You don't have to do anything!" he said again, determined.

He realized that for her peace of mind, he had to stop. To look for a solution. Because if he didn't, she wouldn't, either.

"Let's just leave it and let things run their course, okay?"

She was about to counter angrily, but he stopped her before she could.

She took a deep breath, and slowly said: "But that's not what we do. We're not the kind of people who let things play out."

"No," he said. "But this time we are."

Briony bit her lip, struggling with the decision. But to his relief she didn't object.

Instead, she leaned back, thinking.

"What were they like?" Briony suddenly asked. "My family?"

Although he was glad she had changed the subject, Nik hesitated, worrying that anything he was about to say would make the situation even more emotional. He told her about how he and Elijah had met them in 1652. Briony had heard most of it before, right after he and Elijah had regressed to 1652, but back then she hadn't known how close these people were to her. He could tell from the anxious look in her eyes and her heart beat that everything he said was touching her deeply, and how she connected every detail he mentioned to her own past. He almost regretted telling her that Kol once held her as a baby, when her eyes filled with tears.

"So you think they were nice people?" she asked with great gravitas.

"Yeah," he said.

To his surprise, this reply made her eyes even more watery and she bit her lip again. The idea that his words caused her to cry made him very uncomfortable.

To get the conversation back to a lighter tone, he added: "To be honest, in the long run I would have rather liked having Clement around instead of you. He was much nicer, and easier to get along with."

"Funny," she said, drily.

"And in general, much cooler," he added.

"Sorry that I ruined this great opportunity for you," she said.

As if his hand was suddenly on fire, he felt a piercing hot pain in his left palm. The second he turned his hand to look at it, it was gone. All that was left was a dark red mark on his palm.

He turned back Briony who was smiling at him smugly, the watery eyes almost gone.

"Hey, that hurt," he said.

"Get over it, vampire," she said.

"I guess I deserved that," he said with a smile, and rubbed his palm over his pants.

The pain didn't wear off. It was odd. His palm hurt more than those kind of injuries usually did. And he doubted that Briony had even tried to inflict him any pain.

Before he could spend any more thoughts on it, Briony took him out of his mind.

"Have you talked to Elijah yet?" she asked.

"About what?"

Briony sighed. "And here I thought you made some breakthroughs in communication."

"Come on," she said and got out of the car.

"Whereto?" he asked.

"Since we're officially friends now, I will do the only right thing. I will make you talk to Elijah, so we can get this awkward tension between you two over with."

* * *

 ** _A bit longer than usual, but I thought these 3 parts were so close together, so it made sense to keep them like that. I hope you enjoyed it! Only 4-5 chapters left! (Haven't quite decided yet if the last one is 1 or 2 chapters)._**

 ** _Let me know what you think and thanks for reading and commenting!_**


	56. Too Much Blood

**_Present Day_**

The thought of the task ahead crawled up Freya's skin like screeching nails over broken glass. She had never been more nervous about anything.

Was that a bad sign? The task was against everything she had ever believed was good about magic. With one spell she could save Elijah and Niklaus.

Her family just didn't know about it.

If she liked it or not, her family's blood ran through her veins. That gave her an enormous advantage compared to any other witch who'd try the same. She had been surprised that Briony had never asked her about it. Perhaps Briony truly didn't know what Freya was able to do. Briony was powerful, sure, but lacked the knowledge from being inside a coven for so many centuries.

If Freya was honest with herself, she wanted to do this. She wanted to save her siblings and keep them as a family. And with this, they'd finally accept her for good.

She had returned from the forest a short while later, and walked up to the lodge where the rest of the group was still staying. With trembling knees, she walked up to Elijah, sitting on the porch. He had already seen her coming. Everyone else must have been inside.

Her heart was pounding so loudly that she could hear it herself. And she had no doubts that Elijah could hear it, too.

"Elijah," she said, trying to sound determined. "Can we talk in private?"

He considered her for a moment. "Sure."

He got up, ready to take a walk.

"I have been looking for Niklaus as well," she said, glancing up to the house behind him.

Elijah nodded towards her car, parked further down the road. Freya could make out two people, but figured that Niklaus was talking to Briony.

"That might take a while," Elijah said.

"Alright then," Freya said.

Admittedly, she sensed some relief that she didn't have to tell them both at the same time. Briony told her once how Nik had locked their mother into a cellar, practically to starve, until she'd do what he wanted. Only because he thought she might be able to save them. Maybe it was better to tell only Elijah for now.

With fast steps she walked back the path she had just come from, Elijah's footsteps close behind her.

After a while she stopped, and turned around. Elijah stopped too, looking at her, an anticipating gleam in his eyes.

Freya opened her mouth and closed it again. Why was this so hard?

As long as they didn't know about that she could save them, she could still back out. They'd never know.

But that's not what she wanted, she reminded herself.

"So?" Elijah asked, after a pause.

Freya took a deep breath and then spoke very fast. "I think I can save you and Niklaus. If I'm correct I should be able to duplicate your mother's spell."

It took Elijah a moment until the news reached him.

"Wait, what?" he said in surprise.

"It would be like a repetition of the spell. It makes you as immortal as you were a thousand years ago."

Elijah stared at her in disbelief.

"And you just remember this _now_?" he said, irritated.

Then, seemingly deciding that was not of importance, he turned back to disbelief: "You can actually do this?"

"I said _I think_ I can do it. There are still things that could go wrong, side effects. But technically, yes."

"I wasn't trying to keep this as a secret from you," she added apologetically.

Elijah raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, perhaps I was. But you must see that I wasn't too keen on you knowing. I heard what you did to your mother."

Still struggling on which way to react, Elijah then asked: "What are the side effects?"

"Hard to say. When your mother made you immortal, the side effects were that you had to drink blood, that you had become undead, that the people you turn cannot stay in daylight. I doubt she had ever planned for any of this. Maybe something like that? Or the spell just doesn't work and we will never know why. Worst case scenario, the spell kills you."

In thoughts, Elijah's eyes narrowed.

After a while he asked: "Why are you telling me now?"

Freya shrugged. "I was hoping you'd come up with another solution. But there isn't any, is there?"

He shook his head.

"And you're strong enough to fix all four of us?" he asked.

"No, you don't understand. I said I can fix it for you and Niklaus. Not the others. It's too late for them. Their bodies are what they used to be, over a thousand years ago. They're alive. There's no trace of that old spell in them. I can't prolong a spell that's not there" she said.

Elijah nodded slowly.

"You could just turn them into vampires of course. They might not match your Original strength anymore, but they'd be just as immortal," she said with great hesitance.

She didn't want to suggest to kill Rebekah and Finn, now that they were perfectly fine as humans. Her brothers should come up with the bad ideas themselves. But with gaining trust and all, it seemed that she should put all her cards on the table.

Elijah's face lit up. "You're right. That's as good as it gets."

"Okay," Freya said, accepting her role in this task for good, "do you wanna tell the others?"

Elijah hesitated. "You said, there are a few things that could go wrong. I don't wanna get their hopes up for nothing. Do you need all of them for the spell?"

"No, one of you is enough, actually."

"Great," Elijah said, deciding that the matter was settled.

He straightened up with an anticipating expression in his face.

Unsure, Freya asked: "You think we should try right now?"

"In case you haven't noticed, we are running out of time," Elijah said.

Freya nodded, nervousness rising.

Briony had been right, the stars were aligned in the best way possible for this. It needed a lot of concentration but besides that, the spell wouldn't be hard.

All they needed was a huge bowl of some sorts. After she had mentioned that, Elijah had nodded and disappeared. Shortly after, he had come back with a rusty tin bowl that might have been used for laundry in earlier days. Freya had no idea how he had found it so quickly. But it was nothing new that vampires tended to be rather resourceful in urgent situations. Any other day she'd take the time to properly wash her utensils, but she had to admit, in the end it would not matter if the bowl was dirty or not.

"Can we expect earthquakes like last time?" Elijah said, regarding their surroundings.

The ground was rather swampy. Freya wasn't keen on drowning in a mud, either.

"We should expect things from the sky. Rain, thunder. Blizzard or hail if we're unlucky," she replied.

Elijah nodded. "What do I need to do?"

"Not much," Freya said, "except one thing. I need your blood. A lot of it."

"How much?" he asked unsure.

Freya gestured to the bowl. "The more the better."

Elijah's eyes gaped at the bowl. "Not to criticize your knowledge on anatomy, but there won't be much blood in me left if I need to fill this."

"It's a lot to ask. But you need to trust me on this. It's the only way the spell works. If you'd prefer, we can also get Niklaus for this part."

Elijah considered her. He tried to read her face. She could tell he was still battling with fully trusting her.

"No, it's fine," he said. "Besides, Nik would never agree to this."

Reluctantly, he rolled up his sleeves and bit his wrist open. Slowly, the dark blood trickled into the bowl, slowly creating a small but growing puddle.

"I'll try to be fast, I promise," Freya said.

She kneeled down next to the bowl and concentrated on the inside. After it had filled enough to cover the whole bottom surface, it was time to start.

"I'm going to incantate the spell, summon it in a way, to renew it. For that I'll need to speak the incantation five times. When I'm done the fifth time, it will be over," she said to Elijah.

Then she began. During the first round not much happened. But Freya barely noticed it. All her focus was on the bowl in front of her. This needed to work.

As she went on, during the second and third time, it grew colder and small droplets of rain started to fall down on her. They made the ever growing blood puddle in the bowl unresting and filled the bowl even faster. She had no capacity to check how Elijah was doing. There was no room for distractions. But as long as the blood kept flowing and he was still next to her, she knew he'd be alright. During the fourth time, a thunder rolled around over them, and a lightning struck close-by. The fact that it had been going so well, gave her strength to continue.

As soon as she started with the fifth round, she knew that it was going to be harder, as if nature didn't want her to finish this. The wind grew stronger and smashed the rain into her face. Trying to ignore everything around her, Freya practically screamed her incantation. She was almost done. Only a few more lines and she would be done.

In one sudden beat, the world around her stopped. It was quiet and peaceful. Freya almost fell forward, now that any kind of wind or rain was gone. Startled, Freya jerked up and turned around. Where was the forest? Was this the forest? She could not tell if it was the same place or not. There were trees around her, but they looked different. And it was brighter and warmer than before, the rain gone. Freya turned to see if Elijah was alright. He was gone. So was the bowl.

In his place was someone else. A woman was sitting on the moss in the same spot where the bowl had just been.

Freya blinked. This couldn't be.

"You are…" she trembled the words out, taking a few steps away.

"Your mother," the woman said with a warm smile.

"Esther," Freya said.

All of Freya's instincts had evaporated. Should she go to the woman or run away? Was this a threat?

"What is this?" Freya asked.

"Sit with me," Esther said and held out a hand, welcoming Freya to sit down.

Freya hesitated. She didn't understand. The spell. She had to finish the spell. Her brother's life depended on it.

It was hard to take off her eyes from her mother. With reluctance, Freya averted her eyes to regard the space around her. None of it looked familiar. Where was she supposed to go?

"Your chores from reality won't run away because you sit down and talk to me for a second," Esther said warmly.

Hesitantly, Freya got closer and sank down next to her. "What is this place?"

"A world, neither here nor there. You summoned it with your spell."

"Why are you here?" Freya asked.

"A part of me has always been inside the spell. You summoned me, too."

No words coming to her, Freya gaped at the woman. A long time ago she had dearly wished to meet her mother, sometimes she still did, but here? While she tried to save her siblings? Was that why she was here?

"What are you doing here?" Freya asked.

Esther had tears in her eyes. "I was very sorry to see you getting pulled into this. Although it hurt to lose you so early, it has been a solace to know that one of my children is human, and chose a good path."

"I don't understand," Freya had trouble to follow what her mother tried to say.

All she could see was her mother talking to her, something she had never experienced before or had any memories of. Esther had an unusual way to talk. It was slow and kind, and inviting a conversation.

Esther's eyes were still kind but looked more determined now. "You are not supposed to help them. Don't you see? All my faults from a thousand years ago are almost corrected. The spell has found its end because nature planned it that way. All you need to do is let them go."

Freya stared at her in disbelief. That was a lot to take in. She just had made the decision to be on her family's side herself. She didn't need her mother to shake up her choices again.

"No," Freya shook her head desperately. "I can't!"

"Listen," Esther spoke in a very calm and slow manner that made it hard to disagree with her. "Nobody's blaming you for this. You're the only one that got lucky in this family. You can live a peaceful life without vampires. Join a coven and be with your peers. I have seen how happy you were when you were amongst witches. You worked towards a better goal with people you could trust and understand."

Freya thought back to the bar in New Orleans where she had seen her old friends from the coven. How she longed to be with them now.

But something wasn't right. She had never in her life fully trusted other witches. Never did she tell them about where she came from and whose blood she was carrying in her veins. That's why a part of her always wanted to be with her family. Of what Esther spoke never existed. Could never exist, because the coven would never accept her when being related to the vampires. And she didn't want a coven. She wanted her family.

"No. I've thought about this! I've made my decision. I'm sorry," Freya said and got up again.

"Think about what you're doing," Esther persisted. "You're not helping your siblings. You curse them with eternal life. And you throw nature in such a misbalance that might take another millennium to be reversed. Learn from my mistakes! You are to blame if your siblings survive this!"

"You did this to them!" Freya said angrily, as she rounded up on her mother. "You can't blame me for your sins! And I certainly won't let them die, when I am the only person who can save them. I don't want them gone!"

With that Freya stepped away and anxiously looked left and right. She needed to get out of this place. There had to be a way. She had summoned the spell, so she must still be in charge somehow. Freya closed her eyes and focused on the forest, the bowl, Elijah. The place where she needed to be.

She could already feel the rain on her skin.

"One more thing," Esther quickly said.

Against her will, Freya listened to her voice. The rain on her skin was gone. Freya opened her eyes, and still stood in the dreamlike forest.

"We are not done here. You need to listen to me," Esther continued.

Ignoring her mother, Freya shook her head in denial. Esther was not allowed to get into her head.

"Freya," Esther said, her voice warmer again. "I'm only trying to protect you. I don't want you to leave."

Almost did Freya turn around again. There were so many things she wanted to ask her mother. But a realization crept up Freya's spine. Suddenly she understood why Esther wanted to talk to her, why she had talked so slowly and inviting. She was stalling. Prolonging their conversation with any means necessary. She didn't want Freya to go back and finish the spell. Time was running out. Freya's heart fell into a deep hole. She must go back immediately.

Freya held her ears shut, closed her eyes, and forced herself to only think about the real world. A muffled voice was calling her, but Freya ignored it.

 _The forest. Elijah. The bowl. The forest. Elijah. The bowl._

A loud thunder echoed over her head, as the rain drops fell onto her soaked clothes. Still holding her ears shut, but Freya knew she was back.

She didn't allow herself to feel relief, and muttered the last words of the spell before opening her eyes. With the last syllable she heard a loud crash nearby. A lightning had hit a tree. That was a good sign.

Relieved, she opened her eyes.

Her heart sank.

Elijah was lying sideways on the ground, lifeless. He must have passed out a while ago. His arm was still in the bowl, ridding him of more blood than he needed to survive.

Freya fell on her knees and shook him nervously.

He didn't move.

She didn't want to admit it, but he looked much paler and lifeless than usual. He looked dead.

With shaking hands, she turned him onto his back and took the blood red arm out of the bowl.

"Elijah," she said pressingly, while shaking him even more.

Nothing happened.

She didn't know what to do. The spell was supposed to work. She had finished it. And didn't she show a great amount of restraint with Esther? Why is he not alive and well now?

Her eyes glanced over to the bowl with his blood, the rain drops had almost filled it to the rim. It was too much blood. She had thought Elijah would be able to take it, but time had passed much faster than she had expected, and she had needed much more blood from him than anticipated.

With fast short breaths, Freya stared at her brother, slowly falling into a panic attack. She had taken too long for the spell. And now it might have cost her brother's life.

What was she going to do? What to do?

Suddenly she heard steps nearby. Angst-ridden and hopeful for somebody to save her from this terrible situation, she looked up.

Niklaus was standing across from her, terrified. His eyes were stuck on their brother between them.

Then his eyes slowly moved up to her. "What have you done?"

* * *

 _ **Sorry for the little break - I actually had written this a while ago but never managed to edit it. Thanks for sticking with me! And thank you for the comments :-)**_

 _ **I only realized today that this is the first chapter with just one POV. I had actually thought about doing that in like chapter 6 or so but ended up not doing it. Funny that I'm doing it now so short before the ending. Next time will be again scenes with most characters together, which are my favourites! So stay tuned!**_


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